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Skeat’s copious scholarly notes to his edition of The Canterbury Tales make up all of vol. 5 of The Works of Chaucer.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE NOTES.

§ 1.

In the brief Introduction to vol. iv. I have given a list of the MSS. of the Canterbury Tales; some account of the early printed editions; and some explanation of the methods employed in preparing the present edition. I propose here to discuss further certain important points of general interest. And first, I would say a few words as to the Canon of Chaucer’s Works, whereby the genuine works are separated from others that have been attributed to him, at various times, by mistake or inadvertence.

§ 2.: Canon of Chaucer’s Works.

This has already been considered, at considerable length, in vol. i. pp. 20–90. But it is necessary to say a few words on the whole subject, owing to the extremely erroneous opinions that are so widely prevalent.

Sometimes a poem is claimed for Chaucer because it occurs ‘in a Chaucer MS.’ There is a certain force in this plea in a few cases, as I have already pointed out. But it commonly happens that such MSS. (as, for example, MS. Fairfax 16, MS. Bodley 638, and others) are mere collections of poetry of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, from which nothing can safely be inferred as to the authorship of the poems which they contain, unless the scribe distinctly gives the author’s name1. As a rule, however, the scribes not only omit to mention names, but they frequently omit the very title of the poem, and thus Edition: current; Page: [x] withhold such help as, in many cases, they might easily have afforded.

The celebrated first edition of ‘Chaucer’s Works,’ edited by William Thynne in 1532, made no attempt to establish any canon. Thynne simply put together such a book as he believed would be generally acceptable; and deliberately inserted poems which he knew to be by other authors. Some of these poems bear the name of Lydgate; one has the name of Gower; and another, by Hoccleve, is dated 1402, or two years after Chaucer’s death. They were tossed together without much attempt at order; so that even the eleventh poem in the volume is ‘The Floure of Curtesie, made by Ihon lidgate.’ The edition, in fact, is a mere collection of poems by Chaucer, Lydgate, Gower, Hoccleve, Robert Henrysoun, Sir Richard Ros, and various anonymous authors; and the number of poems by other authors almost equals the number of Chaucer’s. The mere accident of the inclusion of a given piece in this volume practically tells us nothing, unless it happens to be distinctly marked; though we can, of course, often tell the authorship from some remark made by Chaucer himself, or by others. And the net result is this; that Thynne neither attempted to draw up a list of Chaucer’s genuine works, nor to exclude such works as were not his. He merely printed such things as came to hand, without any attempt at selection or observance of order, or regard to authorship. All that we can say is, that he did not knowingly exclude any of the genuine pieces. Nevertheless, he omitted Chaucer’s A.B.C., of which there must have been many copies in existence, for we have twelve still extant.

§ 3.

The mere repetition of this collection, in various reprints, did not confer on it any fresh authority. Stowe indeed, in 1561, added more pieces to the collection, but he suppressed nothing. Neither did he himself exercise much principle of selection; see vol. i. p. 56. He even added The Storie of Thebes, which he must have known to be Lydgate’s. Later reprints were all edited after the same bewildering fashion.

§ 4.

The first person to exercise any discrimination in this matter was Thomas Tyrwhitt, who published a new edition of the Canterbury Tales in five volumes, 8vo., in 1775–8; being the first edition in which some critical care was exercised. After Tyrwhitt had printed the Canterbury Tales, accompanied by Edition: current; Page: [xi] a most valuable commentary in the shape of Notes, it occurred to him to make a Glossary. He had not proceeded far before he decided that such a Glossary ought to be founded upon the whole of Chaucer’s Works, instead of referring to the Tales only; since this would alone suffice to shew clearly the nature of Chaucer’s vocabulary. He at once began to draw up something in the nature of a canon. He rejected the works that were marked with the names of other poets, and remorselessly swept away a large number of Stowe’s very casual additions. And, considering that he was unable, at that date, to apply any linguistic tests of any value—that he had no means of distinguishing Chaucer’s rimes from those of other poets—that he had, in fact, nothing to guide him but his literary instinct and a few notes found in the MSS.—his attempt was a fairly good one. He decisively rejected the following poems found in Thynne’s edition, viz. no. 4 (Testament of Criseyde, by Henrysoun); 11 (The Floure of Curtesie, by Lydgate); 13 (La Belle Dame, by Sir R. Ros); 15 (The Assemblee of Ladies); 18 (A Praise of Women); 21 (The Lamentacion of Marie Magdaleine); 22 (The Remedie of Love); 25 (The Letter of Cupide, by Hoccleve); 26 (A Ballade in commendacion of our Ladie, by Lydgate); 27 (Jhon Gower to Henry IV); 28 and 29 (Sayings of Dan John, by Lydgate); 30 (Balade de Bon Conseil, by Lydgate); 32 (Balade with Envoy—O leude booke); 33 (Scogan’s poem, except the stanzas on Gentilesse); 40 (A balade . . ., by Dan John lidgat); and in no single instance was he wrong in his rejection. He also implied that the following had no claim to be Chaucer’s, as he did not insert them in his final list; viz. no. 6 (A goodlie balade of Chaucer); and 38 (Two stanzas—Go foorthe, kyng); and here he was again quite right. It is also obvious that no. 41 (A balade in the Praise of Master Geffray Chauser) was written by another hand; and indeed, the first line says that Chaucer ‘now lith in grave.’ It will at once be seen that Tyrwhitt did excellent service; for, in fact, he eliminated from Thynne’s edition no less than nineteen pieces out of forty-one; leaving only twenty-two1 remaining. Of this remainder, if we include The Romaunt of the Rose, all but three are unhesitatingly accepted by scholars. The three exceptions are nos. 17, 20, and Edition: current; Page: [xii] 31; i. e. The Complaint of the Black Knight1; The Testament of Love2; and The Cuckoo and the Nightingale.

§ 5.

When Tyrwhitt came to examine the later editions, the only other pieces that seemed to him sufficiently good for the purpose of being quoted in his Glossary were the six following, viz. Chaucer’s A.B.C. (in ed. 1602); The Court of Love (in ed. 1561); Chaucer’s Dreme (in ed. 1598); The Flower and the Leaf (in ed. 1598); Proverbes by Chaucer (in ed. 1561); and Chaucer’s Words to his Scrivener Adam (in ed. 1561). Of these, we may accept the first and the two last; but there is no external evidence in favour of the other three. He also added that the Virelai (no. 50, in ed. 1561) may ‘perhaps’ be Chaucer’s.

§ 6.

In 1810 we find an edition of Chaucer’s Works, by A. Chalmers, F.S.A., in the first volume of the ‘English Poets,’ collected in twenty-one volumes. In this edition, some sort of attempt was made, for the first time, to separate the spurious from the genuine poems. But this separation was made with such reckless carelessness that we actually find no less than six poems (nos. 36, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, in vol. i. 32, 33, above) printed twice over, once as being genuine, and once as being spurious3. It is obvious that we cannot accept a canon of Chaucer’s Works of such a character as this.

§ 7.

In 1845 appeared the edition in which modern critics, till quite recently, put all their trust; and no student will ever understand what is really meant by ‘the canon of Chaucer’s Works’ until he examines this edition with something like common care. It bears this remarkable title:—‘The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. With an Essay on his Language and Versification, and an Edition: current; Page: [xiii] Introductory Discourse; together with Notes and a Glossary. By Thomas Tyrwhitt. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street, 18551.’

In this title, which must be most carefully scanned, there is one very slight unintentional misprint, which alters its whole character. The stop after the word ‘Glossary’ should have been a comma only. The difference in sense is something startling. The title-page was meant to convey that the volume contains, (1) The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (comprising Tyrwhitt’s text of the Canterbury Tales, the remaining poems being anonymously re-edited); and that it also contains, (2) an Essay, a Discourse, Notes, and a Glossary, all by Thomas Tyrwhitt. Such are the facts; and such would have been the (possible) sense of the title-page, if the comma after ‘Glossary’ had not been misprinted as a full stop. But as the title actually appears, even serious students have fallen into the error of supposing that Tyrwhitt edited these Poetical Works; an error of the first magnitude, which has produced disastrous results. A moment’s reflection will shew that, as Tyrwhitt edited the Canterbury Tales only, and died in 1786, he could not have edited the Poetical Works in 1845, fifty-nine years after his death. It would have been better if a short explanation, to this effect, had been inserted in the volume; but there is nothing of the kind.

It must therefore be carefully borne in mind, that this edition of 1845, on the title-page of which the name of Tyrwhitt is so conspicuous, was really edited anonymously, or may even be said not to have been edited at all. The Canterbury Tales are reprinted from Tyrwhitt; and so also are the Essay, the Discourse, the Notes, and the Glossary; and it is most important to observe that ‘the Glossary’ is preceded by Tyrwhitt’s ‘Advertisement,’ and by his ‘Account of the Works of Chaucer to which this Glossary is adapted; and of those other pieces2 which have been improperly intermixed with his in the Editions.’ The volume is, in fact, made up in this way. Pages i-lxx and 1-209 are all due to Tyrwhitt; and contain a Preface, an Appendix to the Preface, an Abstract of Passages of the Life of Chaucer, an Essay, an Introductory Discourse to the Tales, and the Tales themselves. Edition: current; Page: [xiv] Again, pp. 441–502 are all due to Tyrwhitt, and contain an Advertisement to the Glossary, an Account of Chaucer’s Works (as above), and a Glossary. Moreover, this Glossary contains a large number of words from most of Chaucer’s Works, including even his prose treatises; besides a handful of words from spurious works such as ‘Chaucer’s Dream.’

In this way, all the former part and all the latter part of the volume are due to Tyrwhitt; it is the middle part that is wholly independent of him. It is here that we find no less than twenty-five poems, which he never edited, reprinted (inexactly) from the old black-letter editions or from Chalmers. It thus becomes plain that the words ‘By Thomas Tyrwhitt’ on the title-page refer only to the second clause of it, but have no reference to the former clause, consisting of the words, ‘The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer.’ It remains to be said that the twenty-five poems which are here appended to the Canterbury Tales are well selected; and that the anonymous editor or superintendent was guided in his choice by Tyrwhitt’s ‘Account of the Works.’

§ 8.

This somewhat tedious account is absolutely necessary, every word of it, in order to enable the reader to understand what has always been meant (since 1845) by critics who talk about some works as being ‘attributed to Chaucer.’ They really mean (in the case, for example, of The Cuckoo and the Nightingale) that it happens to be included in a certain volume by an anonymous editor, published in 1845, in which the suggestions made by Tyrwhitt in 1778 were practically adopted without any important deviation. In the case of any other author, such a basis for a canon would be considered rather a sandy one; it derives its whole value from the fact that Tyrwhitt was an excellent literary critic, who may well be excused for a few mistakes, considering how much service he did in thus reducing the number of poems in ‘Chaucer’s Works’ from 64 to little more than 261. Really, this was a grand achievement, especially as it clearly emphasised the absurdity of trusting to the old editions. But it is an abuse of language to say that ‘The Cuckoo and Nightingale’ has ‘always been attributed to Chaucer,’ merely Edition: current; Page: [xv] because it happens to have been printed by Thynne in 1532, and had the good luck to be accepted by Tyrwhitt in 1778. On the contrary, such a piece remains on its trial; and it must be rejected absolutely, both on the external and on the internal evidence. Externally, because no scribe or early writer connects it with him in any way. Internally, for reasons given in vol. i. p. 391; and for other reasons given in Lounsbury’s Studies in Chaucer.

§ 9.

The chief value of the anonymous edition in 1845 is, that it gave practical expression to Tyrwhitt’s views. The later editions by Bell and Morris were, in some respects, retrogressive. Both, for example, include The Lamentation of Mary Magdalene, which Tyrwhitt rightly denounced in no dubious terms; (see vol. i. above, pp. 37, 38). But, of late years, the question of constructing a canon of Chaucer’s genuine works has received proper attention, and has been considered by such scholars as Henry Bradshaw, Bernhard ten Brink, Dr. Koch, Dr. Furnivall, Professor Lounsbury, and others; with a fairly unanimous result. The whole question is well summed up in Lounsbury’s Studies in Chaucer, Chapter IV, on ‘The Writings of Chaucer.’ His conclusion is, that his ‘examination leaves as works about which there is no dispute twenty-six titles.’ By these titles he means The Canterbury Tales, Boethius, Troilus, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, The Astrolabe, and the nineteen Minor Poems which I denote by the numbers I-XI, XIII-XX (no. XX being counted as two). His examination did not at first include no. XII (To Rosemounde); but, in his Appendix (vol. iii. pp. 449, 450), he calls attention to it, and accepts it without hesitation. He also says of no. XXII, that ‘it may be Chaucer’s own work.’

§ 10.

I may add a few words about the other Minor Poems which I now print, numbered XXI, XXIII, and XXIV-XXVI; the last three of which appear in vol. iv. pp. xxv-xxxi.

As regards no. XXI, or ‘Against Women Unconstaunt,’ Edition: current; Page: [xvi] I observe that Mr. Pollard, in his ‘Chaucer Primer,’ has these words. The authenticity of this poem ‘has lately been reasserted by Prof. Skeat, on the triple ground that it is (1) a good poem; (2) perfect in its rhymes1; (3) found in conjunction with poems undoubtedly by Chaucer in two MSS.’ This account, however, leaves out my chief argument, viz. its obvious dependence upon a Ballade by Machault, whom Chaucer is known to have imitated, and who is not known to have been imitated by any other Englishman. I also lay stress on the very peculiar manner in which the poem occurs in MS. Ct. See above, vol. i. p. 88. It should also be compared with the Balade to Rosemounde, which it resembles in tone. It seems to me that the printing of this poem in an Appendix is quite justifiable. We may some day learn more about it.

§ 11.

As regards no. XXIV (vol. iv. p. xxv), the external evidence is explicit. It occurs in the same MS. as that which authenticates no. VI (A Compleint to his Lady); and the MS. itself is one of Shirley’s. Internally, we observe the great peculiarity of the rhythm. Not only is the poem arranged in nine-line stanzas, but the whole is a tour de force. In the course of 33 lines, there are but 3 rime-endings; and we may particularly notice the repetition of the first two lines at the end of the poem, just as in the Complaint of Anelida, which likewise begins and ends with a line in which remembraunce is the last word. We have here a specimen of the kind of nine-line stanza (examples of which are very scarce) which Hoccleve endeavoured to imitate in his Balade to my Lord of York2; but Hoccleve had to employ three rimes in the stanza instead of two. The poem is chiefly of importance as an example of Chaucer’s metrical experiments, and as being an excellent specimen of a Complaint. There is a particular reason for taking an interest in all poems of this character, because few Complaints are extant, although Chaucer assures us that he wrote many of them.

§ 12.

As to the poems numbered XXIII (A Balade of Compleynt), XXV (Complaint to my Mortal Foe, vol. iv. p. xxvii), and XXVI (Complaint to my Lodesterre, vol. iv. p. xxix), there are two points of interest: (1) that they are Complaints, and Edition: current; Page: [xvii] (2) that they have never been printed before. That they are genuine, I have no clear proof to offer; but they certainly illustrate this peculiar kind of poem, and are of some interest; and it is clearly a convenience to be able to compare them with such Complaints as we know to be genuine, particularly with no. VI (A Complaint to his Lady). They may be considered as relegated to an Appendix, for the purposes of comparison and illustration. I do not think I shall be much blamed for thus rendering them accessible. It may seem to some that it must be an easy task to discover unprinted poems that are reasonably like Chaucer’s in vocabulary, tone, and rhythm. Those who think so had better take the task in hand; they will probably, in any case, learn a good deal that they did not know before. The student of original MSS. sees many points in a new light; and, if he is capable of it, will learn humility.

§ 13.: The text of the Canterbury Tales.

On this subject I have already said something above (vol. iv. pp. xvii-xx); and have offered a few remarks on the texts in former editions (vol. iv. pp. xvi, xvii; cf. p. viii). But I now take the opportunity of discussing the matter somewhat further.

It is unfortunate that readers have hitherto been so accustomed to inaccurate texts, that they have necessarily imbibed several erroneous notions. I do not hereby intend any reflection upon the editors, as the best MSS. were inaccessible to them; and it is only during the last few years that many important points regarding the grammar, the pronunciation, and the scansion of Middle-English have been sufficiently determined1. Still, the fact remains, and is too important to be passed over.

In particular, I may call attention to the unfortunate prejudice against a certain habit of Chaucer’s, which it taxed all the ingenuity of some of the editors to suppress. Chaucer frequently allows the first foot of his verse to consist of a single accented syllable, as has been abundantly illustrated above with respect to his Legend of Good Women (vol. iii. pp. xliv-xlvii). It was a natural mistake on Tyrwhitt’s part to attribute the apparent fault to the scribes, and to amend the lines which seemed to Edition: current; Page: [xviii] be so strangely defective. It will be sufficient to enumerate the lines of this character that occur in the Prologue, viz. ll. 76, 131, 170, 247, 294, 371, and 391.

Al | bismotered with his habergeoun.

That | no drope ne fille upon hir breste

Ging | len in a whistling wind as clere.

For | to delen with no swich poraille.

Twen | ty bokes, clad in blak or reed.

Ev’ | rich, for the wisdom that he can.

In | a gowne of falding to the knee.

Tyrwhitt alters Al to Alle, meaning no doubt Al-le (dissyllabic), which would be ungrammatical. For That, he has Thatte, as if for That-te; whereas That is invariably a monosyllable. For Gingling, he has Gingeling, evidently meant to be lengthened out to a trisyllable. For For, he prints As for. For Twenty, he has A twenty. The next line is untouched; he clearly took Everich to be thoroughly trisyllabic; which may be doubted. For In, he has All in. And the same system is applied, throughout all the Tales. The point is, of course, that the MSS. do not countenance such corrections, but are almost unanimously obstinate in asserting the ‘imperfection’ of the lines1.

The natural result of altering twenty to A twenty (not only here, but again in D. 1695), was to induce the belief in students that A twenty bookes is a Chaucerian idiom. I can speak feelingly, for I believed it for some years; and I have met with many who have done the same2. And the unfortunate part of the business is, that the restoration of the true reading shocks the reader’s sense of propriety. This is to be regretted, certainly; but the truth must be told; especially as the true readings of the MSS. are now, thanks to the Chaucer Society, accessible to many. The student, in fact, has something to unlearn; and he who is most familiar with the old texts has to unlearn the most. The restoration of the text to the form of it given in the seven best MSS. is, consequently, in a few instances, of an almost revolutionary character; and it is best that this should be said plainly3.

Edition: current; Page: [xix]

The editions by Wright and Morris do not repeat the above amendments by Tyrwhitt; but strictly conform to the Harleian MS. Even so, they are not wholly correct; for this MS. blunders over two lines out of the seven. It gives l. 247 in this extraordinary form:—‘For to delen with such poraile’; where the omission of no renders all scansion hopeless. And again, it gives l. 371 in the form:—‘Euery man for the wisdom that he can’; which is hardly pleasing. And in a great many places, the faithful following of this treacherous MS. has led the editors into sad trouble.

§ 14.

The Harleian MS. The printing of this MS. for the Chaucer Society enables us to see that Mr. Wright did not adhere so closely to the text of the MS. as he would have us believe. As many readers may not have the opportunity of testing this statement for themselves, I here subjoin a few specimens of lines from this MS., to shew the nature of its errors.

Bet than a lazer or a beggere; A. 242.

So in Wright; for beggere read beggestére.

But al that he might gete and his frendes sende; A. 299.

Corrected by Wright.

For eche of hem made othur to wynne; A. 427.

Wright has ‘othur for to wynne.’ This is correct; but the word for is silently supplied, without comment; and so in other cases.

Of his visage children weren aferd; A. 628.

For weren, read were; or pronounce it wer’n. I cite this line because it is, practically, correct, and agrees with other MSS., it being remembered that ‘viság-e’ is trisyllabic. But readers have not, as yet, been permitted to see this line in its correct form. The black-letter editions insert sore before aferd. Tyrwhitt follows them; Wright follows Tyrwhitt; and Morris follows Wright, but prints sore in italics, to shew that there is here a deviation from the MS. of some sort or other.

These examples shew that the Harleian MS. requires very careful watching. There is no doubt as to its early age and its frequent helpfulness in difficult passages; but it is not the kind of MS. that should be greatly trusted.

§ 15.

The Ellesmere MS. The excellence of this MS. renders the task of editing the Tales much easier than that of editing The House of Fame or the Minor Poems. The text here given only varies from it in places where variation seemed highly desirable, as explained in the footnotes. As to my general treatment of it, I have spoken above (vol. iv. pp. xviii-xx).

One great advantage of this MS., quite apart from the excellence of its readings, is the highly phonetic character of the spelling. The future editor will probably some day desire to normalise the spelling of Chaucer throughout his works. If so, he must very carefully study the spelling of the Ellesmere and Hengwrt MSS., which resemble each other very closely. By their help, it becomes possible to regulate the use of the final e to a very great extent, which is extremely helpful for the scansion of the lines.

§ 16.

This matter is best illustrated by referring, for a while, to the old black-letter editions; moreover, the whole matter will appear in a clearer light if we consider, at the same time, the remarkable argument put forward by Prof. Morley (Eng. Writers, v. 126) in favour of the genuineness of The Court of Love.

Edition: current; Page: [xxi]

‘Chaucer (he says) could not have written verse that would scan without sounding in due place the final -e. But when the final e came to be dropped, a skilful copyist of later time would have no difficulty whatever in making the lines run without it . . . If Chaucer wrote—“But that I liké, may I not come by”1—it was an easy change to—“But that I like, that may I not come by.” With so or and, or well, or gat, or that, and many a convenient monosyllable, lines that seemed short to the later ear were readily eked out.’ He then proceeds to give a specimen from the beginning of the Canterbury Tales, suggesting, by way of example, that l. 9 can easily be made to scan in modern fashion by writing—‘And when the small fowls maken melodye.’

Such a theory would be perfectly true, if it had any basis in facts. The plain answer is, that later scribes easily might have eked out lines which seemed deficient; only, as a matter of fact, they did not do so. The notion that Chaucer’s lines run smoothly, and can be scanned, is quite a modern notion, largely due to Tyrwhitt’s common sense. The editors of the sixteenth century did not know that Chaucer’s lines ran smoothly, and did not often attempt to mend them, but generally gave them up as hopeless; and we ought to be much obliged to them for doing so. Whenever they actually make amendments here and there, the patching is usually plain enough. The fact is, however, that they commonly let the texts alone; so that if they followed a good MS., the lines will frequently scan, not by their help, but as it were in spite of them.

§ 17.

Let us look for a moment, at the very edition by Stowe (in 1561), which contains the earliest copy of The Court of Love. The 9th line of the tales runs thus:—‘And smale fowles maken melodie,’ which is sufficiently correct. We can scan it now in the present century, but it is strongly to be suspected that Stowe could not, and did not care to try. For this is how he presents some of the lines.

Redie to go in my pilgrimage; A. 21.

For him, wenden or wende was a monosyllable; and go would do just as well.

The chambres and stables weren wyde; A. 28.

He omits the before stables; it did not matter to him. So that, Edition: current; Page: [xxii] instead of filling up an imperfect line, as Prof. Morley says he would be sure to do, he leaves a gap.

To tel you al the condicion; A. 38.

Tel should be tel-le. As it is, the line halts. But where is the filling up by the help of some convenient monosyllable?

I add a few more examples, from Stowe, without comment.

For to tell you of his aray; A. 73.

In hope to stande in his ladyes grace; A. 88.

And Frenche she spake ful fetously; A. 124.

Her mouth smale, and therto softe and reed; A. 153.

It was almost a span brode, I trowe; A. 155.

Another None with her had she; A. 163.

And in harping, whan he had song; A. 266.

Of hem that helpen him to scholay; A. 302.

Not a worde spake more than nede; A. 304.

Was very felicite perfite; A. 338.

His barge was called the Maudclain; A. 410.

It is needless to proceed; it is obvious that Stowe was not the man who would care to eke out a line by filling it up with convenient monosyllables. And it is just because these old editors usually let the text alone, that the old black-letter editions still retain a certain value, and represent some lost manuscript.

§ 18.

One editor, apparently Speght, actually had an inkling of the truth; but he was promptly put down by Dryden (Pref. to the Fables). ‘The verse of Chaucer, I confess, is not harmonious to us; . . . there is the rude sweetness of a Scotch tune in it, which is natural and pleasing, though not perfect. It is true, I cannot go so far as he who published the last edition of him; for he would make us believe the fault is in our ears, and that there were really ten syllables in a verse where we find but nine; but this error is not worth confuting; it is so gross and obvious an error1, that common sense (which is a rule in everything but matters of faith and revelation) must convince the reader, that equality of numbers in every verse which we call Heroic, was either not known, or not always practised in Chaucer’s age. It were an easy matter to produce some thousands of verses, which are lame for want of half a foot, and sometimes a whole one, and which no pronunciation can make otherwise.’ We cannot doubt that such was the prevalent opinion at that time.

Edition: current; Page: [xxiii]

§ 19.

For such readers as do not wish to study the language or the grammar of Chaucer, but merely wish to read the text with some degree of comfort, and to come by the stories and their general literary expression with the least possible trouble, the Ellesmere MS. furnishes quite an ideal text. Such a reader has only to observe the following empirical rules1.

1. Pronounce every final e like the final a in China, except in a few very common words like wolde, sholde, were, and the like, which may be read as wold’, shold’, wer’, unless the metre seems to demand that they should be fully pronounced. The commonest clipped words of this character are have, hadde (when a mere auxiliary), were, nere (were not), wolde, nolde (would not), thise (like mod. E. these), othere, and a few others, that are easily picked up by observation.

2. Always pronounce final -ed, -es, -en, as distinct syllables, unless it is particularly convenient to clip them. Such extra syllables, like the final -e, are especially to be preserved at the end of the line; a large number of the rimes being double (or feminine).

3. But the final -e is almost invariably elided, and other light syllables, especially -en, -er, -el, are frequently treated as being redundant, whenever the next word following begins with a vowel or is one of the words (beginning with h) in the following list, viz. he, his, him, her, hir (their), hem (them), hath, hadde, have, how, heer.

These three simple rules will go a long way. An attentive reader will thus catch the swing of the metre, and will be carried along almost mechanically. The chief obstacle to a succession of smooth lines is the jerk caused by the occasional occurrence of a line defective in the first foot, as explained above. Perhaps it may be further noted that an e sometimes occurs, as a distinct syllable, in the middle of a word as well as at the end of it. Exx.: Eng-e-lond (A. 16); wod-e-craft (A. 110); sem-e-ly (A. 136).

§ 20.

We must also remember that the accentuation of many words, especially of such as are of French origin, was quite different then from what it is now. A word like ‘reason’ was then properly pronounced resóun (rezuun), i. e. somewhat like a modern ray-zóon; but even in Chaucer’s day the habit of throwing back the accent was beginning to prevail, and there was a tendency to Edition: current; Page: [xxiv] say réson (reezun), somewhat like a modern ráy-zun. Chaucer avails himself of this variable accent, and adopts the sound which comes in more conveniently at the moment1. Thus while we find resóun (rezuun) in l. 37, in l. 274 we find résons (reezunz).

In the same way, there are three syllables in (1) A-pril-le; (4) en-gend-red; (5) Zéph-i-rús; (6) In-spi-red; (8) y-ron-ne; &c. And there are four syllables in (9) mél-o-dý-ë; (12) pil-grim-á-ges.

Elision takes place of the e in drogh-te and of the e in couth-e in l. 14; of the e in nyn-e in l. 24; &c. In such cases, the words may be read as if spelt droght, couth, nyn, for convenience. There are some cases in which the scribe actually fails to write a final e, owing to such elision; but they are not common. I have noted a few in the Glossarial Index.

The final e is ignored, before a consonant, in were (59, 68, 74, 81); and even, which is not common, in hope (88) and nose (152).

The lines were recited deliberately, with a distinct pause near the middle of each, at which no elision could take place. At this medial pause there is often a redundant syllable (as is more fully explained in vol. vi). Thus, in l. 3, the -e in veyn-e should be preserved, though modern readers are sure to ignore it. Cf. carie in l. 130; studie in l. 184; &c.

§ 22.

By help of the above hints, some notion of the melody of Chaucer may be gained, even by such as adopt the modern English pronunciation. It is right, however, to bear in mind that most of the vowels had, at that time, much the same powers as in modern French and Italian; and it sometimes makes a considerable Edition: current; Page: [xxv] difference. Thus the word charitable in l. 143 was really pronounced more like the modern French charitable; only that the initial sound was that of the O. F. and E. ch, as in church, not that of the modern French ch in cher. For further remarks on the pronunciation, see vol. vi.

§ 23.

The feeble suggestion is sometimes made that Chaucer’s spelling ought to be modernised, like that of Shakespeare. This betrays a total ignorance of the history of English spelling. It is not strictly the case, that Shakespeare’s spelling has been modernised; for the fact is the other way, viz. that in all that is most essential, it is the spelling of Shakespeare’s time that has been adopted in modern English. The so-called ‘modern’ spelling is really a survival, and is sadly unfit, as we all know to our cost, for representing modern English sounds. By ‘modernising,’ such critics usually mean the cutting off of final e in places where it was just as little required in Elizabethan English as it is now; the freër use of ‘v’ and of ‘j’; and so forth; nearly all of the alterations referring to unessential details. Such alterations would have been useful even in Shakespeare’s time, and would not have touched the character of the spelling. But the spelling of Chaucer’s time refers to quite a different age, when a large number of inflections were still in use that have since been discarded; so that it involves changes in essential and vital points. As it happens, the spelling of the Ellesmere MS. is phonetic in a very high degree. Pronounce the words as they are spelt, but with the Italian vowel-sounds and the German final e, and you come very near the truth. If this is too much trouble, pronounce the words as they are spelt, with modern English vowels (usually adding a final e, pronounced like a in China, when it is visibly present); and, even so, it is easy to follow. The alteration of a word like quene to queene does not make it any easier; and the further alteration to queen destroys its dissyllabic nature. Besides, those who want the spelling modernised can get it in Gilfillan’s edition.

Surely, it is better to stick to the true old phonetic spelling. Boys at school, who have learnt Attic Greek, are supposed to be able to face the spelling of Homer without wincing, though it is not their native language; and the number of Englishwomen who are fairly familiar with Middle-English is becoming considerable.

§ 24.

As regards the Notes in the present volume, it will be Edition: current; Page: [xxvi] readily understood that I have copied them or collected them from many sources. Many of those on the Prologue and Knightes Tale were really written by Dr. Morris; but, owing to the great kindness he shewed me in allowing me to work in conjunction with him on terms of equality, I should often be hard put to it to say which they are. A large number are taken from the editions by Tyrwhitt, Wright, and Bell; but these are usually acknowledged. Others I have adopted from the various works published by the Chaucer Society; from the excellent notes by Dr. Köppell, Dr. Kölbing, and Dr. Koch that have appeared in Anglia, and in similar publications; and from Professor Lounsbury’s excellent work entitled Studies in Chaucer. I have usually endeavoured to point out the sources of my information; and, if I have in several cases failed to do this, I hope it will be understood that, as Chaucer’s fox said, ‘I dide it in no wikke entente.’ Perhaps this may seem an unlucky reference, for the fox was not speaking the strict truth, as we all know that he ought to have done. If I may take any credit for any part of the Notes, I think it may be for my endeavour to hunt up, as far as I could, a large number of the very frequent allusions to Le Roman de la Rose1, and to such authors as Ovid and Statius; besides undertaking the more difficult task involved in tracing out some of the mysterious references which occur in the margins of the manuscripts. For the Tale of Melibeus, I naturally derived much help and comfort from the admirable edition of Albertano’s Liber Consolationis by Thor Sundby, and the careful notes made by Mätzner. As for the references in the Persones Tale, I should never have found out so many of them, but for the kind assistance of the Rev. E. Marshall. To all my predecessors in the task of annotation, and to all helpers, I beg leave to express my hearty thanks. For further remarks on this and some other subjects, see vol. vi.

As it frequently happens that it is highly desirable to be able to recover speedily the whereabouts of a note on some particular word or subject, an Index to the Notes is appended to this volume.

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ERRATA IN VOL IV.

At p. xxiv of vol. iv, a list of Errata is given, many of which are of slight importance. Much use of this volume, for the purpose of illustration, has brought to my notice a few more Errata, six of which, here marked with an asterisk, are worth special notice.

P. 19. A 636. For Thanne read Than

P. 37. A 1248. The end-stop should be only a colon.

P. 41. A 1419. The end-stop should be only a semicolon.

P. 138. B 295. For moevyng read moeving

Pp. 151, 155. B 724, 858. For Constable read constable

* P. 165. B 1178. For be read he

P. 187. B 1843. The end-stop should (perhaps) be a semicolon.

P. 232. B 2865. For haue read have

P. 259. B 3670. The end-stop should be a comma.

* P. 275. B 4167. For Than read That

* P. 348. D 955. For which read whiche

P. 349. D 1009. For Plighte read Plight

P. 384. D 2152. Dele ‘at beginning.

* P. 398. E 290. MS. E has set (=setteth, pr. s.); which scans better than sette, as in other MSS.

P. 409. E 656. For Left read Lefte [though the e is elided].

* P. 462. F 56. For Him read Hem

P. 546. G 1224. Dele the final comma.

* P. 608; end of l. 14. For power or (as in E.) read power of (as in the resi).

P. 620: ll. 16, 17. Dele the commas after receyven and folk

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VOL. V. ADDENDA, ETC.

P. 73; l. 10 from bottom. Dele comma after Thornton.

P. 262; note to C 60. Cf. Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 205:—‘Ac the greate metes and thet stronge wyn alighteth and norisseth lecherie, ase oyle other grese alighteth and strengtheth thet uer’ [i. e. the fire]. This passage occurs quite close to that quoted in the note to A 4406. Probably Chaucer took both of these from the French original of the Ayenbite. Cf. p. 447.

P. 450. The note to G 1171 has been accidentally omitted, but is important. The reading should here be terved, not torned; and again, in G 1274, read terve, not torne. The Ellesmere MS. is really right in both places, though terued appears as terned in the Six-text edition. These readings are duly noted in the Errata to vol. iv, at p. xxvi. The verb terve means ‘to strip,’ or ‘to roll back’ the edge of a cuff or the like. The Bremen Wörterbuch has: ‘um tarven, up tarven, den Rand von einem Kleidungstücke umschlagen, das innerste auswärts kehren.’ Hence read tirueden in Havelok, 603; teruen of in the Wars of Alexander, 4114; tyrue in Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 630; and tyruen in Gawain and the Grene Knight, 1921.

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NOTES TO THE CANTERBURY TALES.

N.B. The spellings between marks of parenthesis indicate the pronunciation, according to the scheme given in the Introduction.

References to other lines in the Canterbury Tales are denoted by the Group and line. Thus ‘B. 134’ means Group B, l. 134, i. e. the first line in the Man of Lawes Tale.

Notes taken from editions by Tyrwhitt, Wright, Bell, and Morris, are usually marked accordingly; sometimes T. denotes Tyrwhitt, and M., Morris.

1.In the Man of Law’s Prologue, B. 1-6, there is definite mention of the 18th day of April. The reference is, in that passage, to the second day of the pilgrimage. Consequently, the allusion in ll. 19–23 below is to April 16, and in l. 822 to April 17. The year may be supposed to be 1387 (vol. iii. p. 373).

shoures (shuu·rez), showers; pl. of shour, A. S. scūr (skuur). The etymology of all words of this character, which are still in use, can be found by looking out the modern form of the word in my Etymological Dictionary. I need not repeat such information here.

sote, sweet, is another form of swete, which occurs just below in l. 5. The e is not, in this case, the mark of the plural, as the forms sote, swete are dissyllabic, and take a final e in the singular also. Sote is a less correct form of swote; and the variation between the long o in swote and the long e in swete is due to confusion between the adverbial and adjectival uses. Swote corresponds to A. S. swōt, adv., sweetly, and swete to A. S. swēte, adj., sweet. The latter exhibits mutation of ō to ē; cf. mod. E. goose, pl. geese (A. S. gōs, pl. gēs).

2.droght-e, dryness; A. S. drūgathe; essentially dissyllabic, but the final e is elided. Pron. (druuht’). perced, pierced. rot-e, dat. of root, a root; Icel. rōt; written for roote. The double o is not required to shew vowel-length, when a single consonant and an e follow.

4.vertu, efficacy, productive agency, vital energy. ‘And bathed every vein (of the tree or herb) in such moisture, by means of which quickening power the flower is generated.’ Pron. (vertü·).

5.Zephirus, the zephyr, or west wind. Cf. Chaucer’s Book of the Duchess, l. 402, and the note. There are two more references to Zephirus in the translation of Boethius, bk. i. met. 5; bk. ii. met. 3.

yonge sonne (yunggǝ sunnǝ); see the next note. The -e in yong-e denotes the definite form of the article. Sonn-e, A. S. sunna, is essentially dissyllabic.

8.the Ram. The difficulty here really resides in the expression ‘his halfe cours,’ which means what it says, viz. ‘his half-course,’ and not, as Tyrwhitt unfortunately supposed, ‘half his course.’ The results of the two explanations are quite different. Taking Chaucer’s own expression as it stands, he tells us that, a little past the middle of April, ‘the young sun has run his half-course in the Ram.’ Turning to Fig. 1 in The Astrolabe (see vol. iii.), we see that, against the month ‘Aprilis,’ there appears in the circle of zodiacal signs, the latter half (roughly speaking) of Aries, and the former half of Taurus. Thus the sun in April runs a half-course in the Ram and a half-course in the Bull. ‘The former of these was completed,’ says the poet; which is as much Edition: current; Page: [3] as to say, that it was past the eleventh of April; for, in Chaucer’s time, the sun entered Aries on March 12, and left that sign on April 11. See note to l. 1.

March.

Aries.

April.

Taurus.

May.

Gemini.

The sun had, in fact, only just completed his course through the first of the twelve signs, as the said course was supposed to begin at the vernal equinox. This is why it is called ‘the yonge sonne,’ an expression which Chaucer repeats under similar circumstances in the Squyeres Tale, F. 385. Y-ronne, for A. S. gerunnen, pp. of rinnan, to run (M. E. rinnen, rinne). The M. E. y-, A. S. ge-, is a mere prefix, mostly used with past participles.

12, 13. According to ordinary English construction, the verb longen must be supplied after palmers. In fact, l. 13 is parenthetical. Note that Than, in l. 12, answers to Whan in l. 1.

13.palmer, originally, one who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and brought home a palm-branch as a token. Chaucer, says Tyrwhitt, seems to consider all pilgrims to foreign parts as palmers. The essential difference between the two classes of persons here mentioned, the palmer and the pilgrim, was, that the latter had ‘some dwelling-place, a palmer had none; the pilgrim travelled to some certain place, the palmer to all, and not to any one in particular; the pilgrim might go at his own charge, the palmer must profess wilful poverty; the pilgrim might give over his profession, the palmer must be constant’; Blount’s Glossographia (taken from Speght). See note to P. Plowman, B. v. 523.

The fact is, that palmers did not always reach the Holy Land. They commonly went to Rome first, where not unfrequently the Pope ‘allowed them to wear the palm as if they had visited Palestine’; Rock, Church of our Fathers, vol. iii. pt. 1. p. 439.

18.holpen, pp. of helpen. The older preterites of this verb are heolp, help, halp. seke, sick, rimes to seke, seek; this apparent repetition is only allowed when the repeated word is used in two different senses.

seke, pl. of seek, A. S. sēoc, sick, ill. For hem, see n. to l. 175.

19.Bifel, it befell. seson (saesun), time. on a day, one day.

20.Tabard. Of this word Speght gives the following account in his Glossary to Chaucer:—‘Tabard—a jaquet or sleveless coate, worne in times past by noblemen in the warres, but now only by heraults (heralds), and is called theyre “coate of armes in servise.” It is the signe of an inne in Southwarke by London, within the which was the lodging of the Abbot of Hyde by Winchester. This is the hostelry where Chaucer and the other pilgrims mett together, and, with Henry Baily their hoste, accorded about the manner of their journey to Canterbury. And whereas through time it hath bin much decayed, it is now by Master J. Preston, with the Abbot’s house thereto adgoyned, newly repaired, and with convenient rooms much encreased, for the receipt of many guests.’ The inn is well described in Saunders (on Chaucer), p. 13. See also Stow, Survey of London (ed. Thoms, p. 154); Nares’ Glossary, s. v. Tabard; Dyce’s Skelton, ii. 283; Furnivall’s Temporary Preface to Chaucer, p. 18.

The tabard, however, was not sleeveless, though the sleeves, at first, were very short. See the plate in Boutell’s Heraldry, ed. Aveling, p. 69; cf. note to P. Plowman, C. vii. 203.

lay; used like the modern ‘lodged,’ or ‘was stopping.’

23.come (kum’), short for comen, pp. of comen. hostelrye, a lodging, inn, house, residence. Hostler properly signifies the keeper of an inn, and not, as now, the servant of an inn who looks after the horses.

34.ther as I yow devyse, to that place that I tell you of (sc. Canterbury); ther in M. E. frequently signifies ‘where,’ and ther as signifies ‘where that.’ devyse, speak of, describe; lit. ‘devise.’

35.natheles, nevertheless; lit. ‘no the less’; cf. A. S. nā, no. whyl, whilst. The form in -es (whiles, the reading of some MSS.) is a comparatively modern adverbial form, and may be compared with M. E. hennes, thennes, hence, thence; ones, twyes, thryes, once, twice, thrice; of which older forms are found in -enne and -e respectively.

37. ‘It seemeth to me it is reasonable.’

Me thinketh=me thinks, where me is the dative before the impersonal vb. thinken, to appear, seem; cp. me liketh, me list, it pleases me. So the phrase if you please=if it please you, you being the dative and not the nominative case. semed me=it seemed to me, occurs in l. 39. The personal verb is properly thenken, as in the Clerkes Tale, E. 116, 641; or thenchen, as in A. 3253.

accordaunt, accordant, suitable, agreeable (to).

40.whiche, what sort of men; Lat. qualis.

41.inne. In M. E., in is the preposition, and inne the adverb.

The Knight.

43.Knight. It was a common thing in this age for knights to seek employment in foreign countries which were at war. Cf. Book of the Duchesse, 1024, and my note. Tyrwhitt cites from Leland’s Itinerary, v. iii. p. cxi., the epitaph of a knight of this period, Matthew de Gourney, who had been at the battle of Benamaryn, at the siege of Algezir, and at the Battles of Crecy, Poitiers, &c. See note to l. 51.

worthy, worthy, is here used in its literal signification of distinguished, honourable. See ll. 47, 50. Pron. (wur·dhi).

For notes on the dresses, &c. of the pilgrims, see Todd’s Illustrations of Chaucer, p. 227; Fairholt’s Costume in England, 1885, i. 129; and Saunders, on the Canterbury Tales, where some of the MS. drawings are reproduced. Also Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, sect. 17.

45.chivalrye (chiv·alrii·ǝ), knighthood; also the manners, exercises, and exploits of a knight.

47.in his lordes werre, i.e. in the king’s service. ‘The knight, by his tenure, was obliged to serve the king on horseback in his wars, and maintain a soldier at his own proper charge,’ &c.; Strutt, Manners and Customs, iii. 15. werre, war.

52.he hadde the bord bigonne. Here bord = board, table, so that the phrase signifies ‘he had been placed at the head of the dais, or table of state.’ Warton, in his Hist. of Eng. Poetry, ed. 1840, ii. 209 (ed. 1871, ii. 373), aptly cites a passage from Gower which is quite explicit as to the sense of the phrase. See Gower, Conf. Amantis, bk. viii. ed. Pauli, iii. 299. We there read that a knight was honoured by a king, by being set at the head of the middle table in the hall.

‘And he, which had his prise deserved,

After the kinges owne word,

Was maad beginne a middel bord.’

The context shews that this was at supper-time, and that the knight was placed in this honourable position by the marshal of the hall.

Further illustrations are also given by Warton, ed. 1840, i. 174, footnote, shewing that the phrases began the dese (daīs) and began the table were also in use, with the same sense. I can add another clear instance from Sir Beves of Hamptoun, ed. Kölbing, E. E. T. S., p. 104, where we find in one text (l. 2122)—

‘Thow schelt this dai be priour,

And beginne oure deis’ [dais];

where another text has (l. 1957) the reading—

‘Palmer, thou semest best to me,

Therfore men shal worshyp the;

Begyn the borde, I the pray.’

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See also the New Eng. Dictionary, s. v. Board; Hartshorne’s Metrical Tales, pp. 72, 73, 215, 219; Early Popular Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, i. 104; Todd’s Illustrations, p. 322. Even in Stow’s Survey of London, ed. Thomas, p. 144, col. 2, we read how—‘On the north side of the hall certain aldermen began the board, and then followed merchants of the city.’

Another explanation is sometimes given, but it is wholly wrong.

53, 54.Pruce. When our English knights wanted employment, ‘it was usual for them to go and serve in Pruce, or Prussia, with the knights of the Teutonic order, who were in a state of constant warfare with their heathen neighbours in Lettow (Lithuania), Ruce (Russia), and elsewhere.’—Tyrwhitt. Cf. Gower, Conf. Amant. ii. 56.

The larger part of Lithuania now belongs to Russia, and the remainder to Prussia; but in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the natives long maintained their independence against the Russians and Poles (Haydn, Dict. of Dates).

reysed, made a military expedition. The O. F. reise, sb., a military expedition, was in common use on the continent at that time. Numerous examples of its use are given in Godefroy’s O. F. Dict. It was borrowed from O. H. G. reisa (G. Reise), an expedition. Pron. (reized).

Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, ed. 1840, ii. 210, remarks—‘Thomas duke of Gloucester, youngest son of Edw. III, and Henry earl of Derby, afterwards Henry IV, travelled into Prussia; and, in conjunction with the grand Masters and Knights of Prussia and Livonia, fought the infidels of Lithuania. Lord Derby was greatly instrumental in taking Vilna, the capital of that country, in the year 1390. Here is a seeming compliment to some of these expeditions.’ Cf. Walsingham, Hist., ed. Riley, ii. 197. Hackluyt, in his Voyages, ed. 1598, i. 122, cites and translates the passage from Walsingham referred to above. However, the present passage was written before 1390; see n. to l. 277.

In an explanation of the drawings in MS. Jul. E. 4, relating to the life of Rd. Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (born 1381, died 1439), I find—‘Here shewes how erle Richard from Venise took his wey to Russy, Lettow, and Velyn, and Cypruse, Westvale, and other coostes of Almayn toward Englond.’—Strutt, Manners and Customs.

56–8.Gernade, Granda. ‘The city of Algezir was taken from the Moorish King of Granada in 1344.’—T. The earls of Derby and Salisbury assisted at the siege; Weber, Met. Rom. iii. 306. It is the modern Algeciras on the S. coast of Spain, near Cape Trafalgar.

Belmarye and Tramissene (Tremezen), l. 62, were Moorish kingdoms in Africa, as appears from a passage in Froissart (bk. iv. c. 24) cited by Tyrwhitt. Johnes’ translation has—‘Tunis, Bugia, Morocco, Benmarin, Tremeçen.’ Cf. Kn. Tale, l. 1772 (A. 2630). Benmarin is called Balmeryne in Barbour’s Bruce, xx. 393, and Belmore in the Sowdone of Babylon, 3122. The Gulf of Tremezen is on the coast of Algiers, to the west.

Lyeys, in Armenia, was taken from the Turks by Pierre de Lusignan Edition: current; Page: [8] about 1367. It is the Layas mentioned by Froissart (see note to l. 51) and the modern Ayas; see the description of it in Marco Polo, ed. Yule, i. 15. Cf. ‘Laiazzo’s gulf,’ Hoole’s tr. of Ariosto’s Orlando; bk. xix. l. 389.

Satalye (Attalia, now Adalia, on the S. coast of Asia Minor) was taken by the same prince soon after 1352.—T. See Acts xiv. 25.

Palatye (Palathia, see l. 65), in Anatolia, was one of the lordships held by Christian knights after the Turkish conquest.—T. Cf. Froissart, bk. iii. c. 23.

59.the Grete See. The Great Sea denotes the Mediterranean, as distinguished from the two so-called inland seas, the Sea of Tiberias and the Dead Sea. So in Numb. xxxiv. 6, 7; Josh. i. 4; also in Mandevile’s Travels, c. 7.

60.aryve, arrival or disembarkation of troops, as in the Harleian and Cambridge MSS. Many MSS. have armee, army, which gives no good sense, and probably arose from misreading the spelling ariue as arme. Perhaps the following use of rive for ‘shore’ may serve to illustrate this passage:—

‘The wind was good, they saileth blive,

Till he took lond upon the rive

Of Tire,’ &c.

Gower, Conf. Amant. ed. Pauli, iii. 292.

be = ben, been. Cf. ydo = ydon, done, &c.

62.foghten (fǫuhten), pp. fought; from the strong verb fighten.

63. ‘He had fought thrice in the lists in defence of our faith’; i. e. when challenged by an infidel to do so. Such combats were not uncommon. slayn, slain. hadde must be supplied from l. 61.

64.ilke, same; A. S. ylca.

65.Somtyme, once on a time; not our ‘sometimes.’ See l. 85.

66.another hethen, a heathen army different from that which he had encountered at Tremezen.

74. ‘His horses were good, but he himself was not gaudily dressed.’ Hors is plural as well as singular. In fact, the knight had three horses; one for himself, one for his son, and one for the yeoman. Perhaps we should read—‘but hé ne was not gay,’ supplying ne from Hl. and Hn. This makes he emphatic; and we may then treat the e in god-e as a light extra syllable, at the caesural pause; for doing which there is ample authority.

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75.fustian; see Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 224. gipoun (jipuu·n), a diminutive of gipe, a tight-fitting vest, a doublet; also called a gipell, as in Libeaus Disconus, 224. See Fairholt, s. v. fustian, and s. v. gipon. The O. F. gipe (whence F. jupe) meant a kind of frock or jacket. wered is the A. S. werede, pt. t. of the weak verb werian, to wear. It is now strong; pt. t. wore. See l. 564.

76. This verse is defective in the first foot, which consists solely of the word Al. Such verses are by no means uncommon in the Cant. Tales and in the Leg. of Good Women. Pron. (al· bismut·erd widh·iz ha·berjuu·n). ‘His doublet of fustian was all soiled with marks made by the habergeon which he had so lately worn over it.’ Bismotered has the same sense as mod. E. besmutted.

habergeoun, though etymologically a diminutive of hauberk, is often used as synonymous with it. ‘It was a defence of an inferior description to the hauberk; but when the introduction of plate-armour, in the reign of Edward III, had supplied more convenient and effectual defences for the legs and thighs, the long skirt of the hauberk became superfluous; from that period the habergeon alone appears to have been worn.’—Way, note to Promptorium Parvulorum, p. 220.

‘And Tideus, above his Habergeoun,

A gipoun hadde, hidous, sharpe, and hoor,

Wrought of the bristles of a wilde Boor.’

Lydgate, Siege of Thebes, pt. ii.

See the Glossary to Fairholt’s Costume in England, s. v. Habergeon; and, for the explanation of gipoun, see the same, under gipon and gambeson. For a picture of a gipoun, see Boutell’s Heraldry, ed. Aveling, p. 67.

77, 78. ‘For he had just returned from his journey, and went to perform his pilgrimage’ (which he had vowed for a safe return) in his knightly array, only without his habergeon.

The Squyer.

79.squyer=esquire, one who attended on a knight, and bore his lance and shield. See Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, Introd. § 8. ‘Esquires held land by the service of the shield, and were bound by their fee to attend the king, or their lords, in the war, or pay escuage.’—Strutt, Manners and Customs, iii. 15. And see Ritson, Met. Romances, iii. 345.

As to the education and accomplishments of a squire, see note to Sir Topas, B. 1927.

80.lovyere, lover. The y in this word is not euphonic as in some modern words; lovyere (luv·yer) is formed from the verb lovi-en, A. S. lufian, to love.

bacheler, a young aspirant to knighthood. There were bachelors in arms as well as in arts. Cf. The Sowdone of Babylone, 1211.

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81.lokkes, locks (of hair). crulle (krull’), curly, curled; cf. Mid. Du. krul, a curl. In mod. E., the r has shifted its place. In King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 4164, we find—‘And his lokkes buth noght so crolle.’ as they, &c., as if they had been laid in an instrument for curling them by pressure. Curling-tongs seem to be meant; or. possibly, curling-papers. For presse, cf. l. 263.

82.yeer. In the older stages of the language, year, goat, swine, &c., being neuter nouns, underwent no change in the nom. case of the plural number. We have already had hors, pl., in l. 74.

97.hote, adv. hotly; from hoot, adj. hot. nightertale, night-time, time (or reckoning) of night. So also wit nighter-tale, lit. with night-time, Cursor Mundi, l. 2783; on nightertale, id. 2991; be [by] nychtyrtale, Barbour’s Bruce, xix. 495. The word is used by Holinshed in his account of Joan of Arc (under the date 1429), but altered in the later edition to ‘the dead of the night’; it also occurs in Palladius on Husbandry, ed. Lodge, bk. i. l. 910; and in The Court of Love, l. 1355. Cf. Icel. náttar-tal, a tale, or number, of nights; and the phrase á náttar-þeli, at dead of night.

100.carf, the past tense of kerven, to carve (pp. corven). The allusion is to what was then a common custom; cf. E. 1773; Barbour’s Bruce, i. 356. biforn, before; A. S. biforan.

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The Yeman.

101.Yeman, yeoman. ‘As a title of service, it denoted a servant of the next degree above a garson or groom . . . . The title of yeoman was given in a secondary sense to people of middling rank not in service. The appropriation of the word to signify a small landholder is more modern.’—Tyrwhitt. In ed. 1532, this paragraph is headed—‘The Squyers yoman,’ so that he (in this line) means the Squire, as we should naturally suppose from the context. Tyrwhitt, indeed, objects that ‘Chaucer would never have given the son an attendant, when the father had none’; but he overlooks the fact that both the squire and the squire’s man were necessarily servants to the knight, who, in this way, really had two servants; just as, in the note to l. 74, I have shewn that he had three horses. Warton, Strutt, and Todd all take this view of the matter, as might be expected. For further information as to the status of a yeoman, see Blackstone; Spelman’s Glossary, s. v. Socman; Strutt, Manners and Customs, iii. 16; the Glossary to the Babees Book, ed. Furnivall; Waterhous, Comment. on Fortescue’s De Laudibus Legum Angliæ, ed. 1663, p. 391; &c.

na-mo, no more (in number). In M. E., mo relates to number, but more to size; usually, but not always; see l. 808.

102.him liste, it pleased him. liste is the past tense; list, it pleaseth, is the present. See note on l. 37.

103. Archers were usually clad in ‘Lincoln green’; cf. D. 1382.

104.a sheef of pecok-arwes, a sheaf of arrows with peacocks’ feathers. Ascham, in his Toxophilus, ed. Arber, p. 129, does not say much in favour of ‘pecock fethers’; for ‘there is no fether but onely of a goose that hath all commodities in it. And trewelye at a short but, which some man doth vse, the pecock fether doth seldome kepe vp the shaft eyther ryght or level, it is so roughe and heuy, so that many men which haue taken them vp for gaynesse, hathe layde them downe agayne for profyte; thus for our purpose, the goose is best fether for the best shoter.’ In the Geste of Robyn Hode, pr. by W. Copland, we read—

106.takel, lit. ‘implement’ or ‘implements’; here the set of arrows. For takel in the sense of ‘arrow,’ see Rom. Rose, 1729, 1863. ‘He knew well how to arrange his shooting-gear in a yeomanlike manner.’ Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, bk. ii. c. 1. § 16, quotes a ballad in which Robin Hood proposes that each man who misses the mark shall lose ‘his takell’; and one of the losers says—‘Syr abbot, I deliver thee myne arrowe.’ Fairholt (s. v. Tackle) quotes from A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hood—

107. The sense is—‘His arrows did not present a draggled appearance owing to the feathers being crushed’; i.e. the feathers stood out erect and regularly, as necessary to secure for them a good flight.

109.not-heed, a head closely cut or cropped. Cf. ‘To Notte his haire, comas recidere’; Baret’s Alvearie, 1580. Shakespeare has not-pated, i.e. crop-headed, 1 Henry IV, ii. 4. 78. Cooper’s Thesaurus, 1565, has:—‘Tondere, to cause his heare to be notted or polled of a barbour’; also, ‘to notte his heare shorte’; also, ‘Tonsus homo, a man rounded, polled, or notted. Cotgrave explains the F. tonsure as ‘a sheering, clipping, powling, notting, cutting, or paring round.’ Florio, ed. 1598, explains Ital. zucconare as ‘to poule, to nott, to shave, or cut off one’s haire,’ and zuccone as ‘a shauen pate, a notted poule.’ And more illustrations might be adduced, as e.g. the explanation of Nott-pated in Nares’ Glossary. In later days the name of Roundhead came into use for a like reason. Cf. ‘your nott-headed country gentleman’; Chapman, The Widow’s Tears, Act i. sc. 4.

110. ‘He understood well all the usage of woodcraft.’

111.bracer, a guard for the arm used by archers to prevent the friction of the bow-string on the coat. It was made like a glove with a long leathern top, covering the fore-arm (Fairholt). See it described in Ascham’s Toxophilus, ed. Arber, pp. 107, 108. Cf. E. brace.

115.Christofre. ‘A figure of St. Christopher, used as a brooch. . . . The figure of St. Christopher was looked upon with particular reverence Edition: current; Page: [13] among the middle and lower classes; and was supposed to possess the power of shielding the person who looked on it from hidden dangers’; note in Wright’s Chaucer. This belief is clearly shewn by a passage in Wright’s History of Caricature. It is of so early an origin that we already meet with it in Anglo-Saxon in Cockayne’s Shrine, p. 77, where we are told that St. Christopher ‘prayed God that every one who has any relic of him should never be condemned in his sins, and that God’s anger should never come upon him’; and that his prayer was granted. There is a well-known early woodcut exhibiting one of the earliest specimens of block-printing, engraved at p. 123 of Chambers’ Book of Days, vol. ii, and frequently elsewhere. The inscription beneath the figure of the saint runs as follows:—

‘Christofori faciem die quacunque tueris

Illa nempe die morte mala non morieris.’

Hence the Yeoman wore his brooch for good luck. St. Christopher’s day is July 25. For his legend, see Mrs. Jameson’s Sacred and Legendary Art, ii. 48; &c. shene; see n. to l. 160.

116. Riley, in his Memorials of London, p. 115, explains baldric as ‘a belt passing mostly round one side of the neck, and under the opposite arm.’ In 1314, a baldric cost 12d. (same reference). See Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 29.

117.forster, forester. Hence the names Forester, Forster, and Foster.

The Prioresse.

118. ‘A nunne, y wene a pryores’; Rob. of Brunne, Hand. Synne, 7809.

120. In this line, as in ll. 509 and 697, the word se-ynt seems to be dissyllabic. Six MSS. agree here; and the seventh (Harleian) has nas for was, which keeps the same rhythm. Edd. 1532, 1550, and 1561 have the same words, omitting but.

seynt Loy. Loy is from Eloy, i.e. St. Eligius, whose day is Dec. 1; see the long account of him in Butler’s Lives of the Saints. He was a goldsmith, and master of the mint to Clotaire II., Dagobert I., and Clovis II. of France; and was also bishop of Noyon. He became the patron saint of goldsmiths, farriers, smiths, and carters. The Lat. Eligius necessarily became Eloy in O. French, and is Eloy or Loy in English, the latter form being the commoner. The Catholicon Anglicum (ad 1483) gives: ‘Loye, elegius (sic), nomen proprium.’ Sir T. More, Works, ed. 1577, p. 194, says: ‘St. Loy we make an horseleche.’ Barnaby Googe, as cited in Brand, Pop. Antiq. i. 364 (ed. Ellis), says:—

‘And Loye the smith doth looke to horse, and smithes of all degree,

If they with iron meddle here, or if they goldesmithes bee.’

There is a district called St. Loye’s in Bedford; a Saint Loyes chapel Edition: current; Page: [14] near Exeter; &c. Churchyard mentions ‘sweete Saynct Loy’; Siege of Leith, st. 50. In Lyndesay’s Monarchè, bk. ii. lines 2299 and 2367, he is called ‘sanct Eloy.’ In D. 1564, the carter prays to God and Saint Loy, joining the names according to a common formula; but the Prioress dropped the divine name. Perhaps she invoked St. Loy as being the patron saint of goldsmiths; for she seems to have been a little given to a love of gold and corals; see ll. 158–162. Warton’s notion, that Loy was a form of Louis, only shews how utterly unknown, in his time, were the phonetic laws of Old French.

Many more illustrations might be added; such as—‘By St. Loy, that draws deep’; Nash’s Lenten Stuff, ed. Hindley, p. xiv. ‘God save her and Saint Loye’; Jack Juggler, ed. Roxburgh Club, p. 9; and see Eligius in the Index to the Parker Society’s publications.

The life of St. Eligius, as given in Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints, contains a curious passage, which seems worth citing:—‘St. Owen relates many miracles which followed his death, and informs us that the holy abbess, St. Aurea, who was swept off by a pestilence, . . was advertised of her last hour some time before it, by a comfortable vision of St. Eligius.’ See also Mrs. Jameson’s Sacred and Legendary Art, 3rd ed., p. 728.

There is, perhaps, a special propriety in selecting St. Loy for mention in the present instance. In an interesting letter in The Athenæum for Jan. 10, 1891, p. 54, Prof. Hales drew attention to the story about St. Eligius cited in Maitland’s Dark Ages, pp. 83–4, ed. 1853. When Dagobert asked Eligius to swear upon the relics of the saints, the bishop refused. On being further pressed to do so, he burst into tears; whereupon Dagobert exclaimed that he would believe him without an oath. Hence, to swear by St. Loy was to swear by one who refused to swear; and the oath became (at second-hand) no oath at all. See Hales, Folia Literaria, p. 102. At any rate, it was a very mild one for those times. Cf. Amis and Amiloun, 877:—‘Than answered that maiden bright, And swore “by Jesu, ful of might.” ’

122. ‘She sang the divine service.’ Here sér-vic-è is trisyllabic, with a secondary accent on the last syllable.

123.Entuned, intoned. nose is the reading of the best MSS. The old black-letter editions read voice (wrongly).

semely, in a seemly manner, is in some MSS. written semily. The e is here to be distinctly sounded; hertily is sometimes written for hertely. See ll. 136, 151.

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124.faire, adv. fairly, well. fetisly, excellently; see l. 157.

125.scole, school; here used for style or pronunciation.

126.Frensh. Mr. Cutts (Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages, p. 58) says very justly:—‘She spoke French correctly, though with an accent which savoured of the Benedictine convent at Stratford-le-Bow, where she had been educated, rather than of Paris.’ There is nothing to shew that Chaucer here speaks slightingly of the French spoken by the Prioress, though this view is commonly adopted by newspaper-writers who know only this one line of Chaucer, and cannot forbear to use it in jest. Even Tyrwhitt and Wright have thoughtlessly given currency to this idea; and it is worth remarking that Tyrwhitt’s conclusion as to Chaucer thinking but meanly of Anglo-French, was derived (as he tells us) from a remark in the Prologue to the Testament of Love, which Chaucer did not write! But Chaucer merely states a fact, viz. that the Prioress spoke the usual Anglo-French of the English court, of the English law-courts, and of the English ecclesiastics of the higher rank. The poet, however, had been himself in France, and knew precisely the difference between the two dialects; but he had no special reason for thinking more highly of the Parisian than of the Anglo-French. He merely states that the French which she spoke so ‘fetisly’ was, naturally, such as was spoken in England. She had never travelled, and was therefore quite satisfied with the French which she had learnt at home. The language of the King of England was quite as good, in the esteem of Chaucer’s hearers, as that of the King of France; in fact, king Edward called himself king of France as well as of England, and king John was, at one time, merely his prisoner. Warton’s note on the line is quite sane. He shews that queen Philippa wrote business letters in French (doubtless Anglo-French) with ‘great propriety.’ What Mr. Wright means by saying that ‘it was similar to that used at a later period in the courts of law’ is somewhat puzzling. It was, of course, not similar to, but the very same language as was used at the very same period in the courts of law. In fact, he and Tyrwhitt have unconsciously given us the view entertained, not by Chaucer, but by unthinking readers of the present age; a view which is not expressed, and was probably not intended. At the modern Stratford we may find Parisian French inefficiently taught; but at the ancient Stratford, the very important Anglo-French was taught efficiently enough. There is no parallel between the cases, nor any such jest as the modern journalist is never weary of, being encouraged by critics who ought to be more careful. The ‘French of Norfolk’ as spoken of in P. Plowman (B. v. 239) was no French at all, but English; and the alleged parallel is misleading, as the reader who cares to refer to that passage will easily see.

‘Stratford-at-Bow, a Benedictine nunnery, was famous even then for its antiquity.’—Todd, Illustrations of Chaucer, p. 233. It is said by Tanner to have been founded by William, bp. of London, before 1087; but Dugdale says it was founded by one Christiana de Sumery, and Edition: current; Page: [16] that her foundation was confirmed by King Stephen. It was dedicated to St. Leonard.

unknowe, short for unknowen, unknown.

127.At mete. Tyrwhitt has acutely pointed out how Chaucer, throughout this passage, merely reproduces a passage in his favourite book, viz. Le Roman de la Rose, ed. Méon, l. 13612, &c., which may be thus translated:—‘and takes good care not to wet her fingers up to the joints in broth, nor to have her lips anointed with soups, or garlic, or fat flesh, nor to heap up too many or too large morsels and put them in her mouth. She touches with the tips of her fingers the morsel which she has to moisten with the sauce (be it green, or brown, or yellow), and lifts her mouthful warily, so that no drop of the soup, or relish or pepper may fall on her breast. And so daintily she contrives to drink, as not to sprinkle a drop upon herself . . . she ought to wipe her lip so well, as not to permit any grease to stay there, at least upon her upper lip.’ Such were the manners of the age. Cf. also Ovid, Ars Amatoria, iii. 755, 756.

129.wette, wet; pt. t. of wetten. depe, deeply, adv.

131. Scan—‘Thát | no dróp | e ne fill | e,’ &c. The e in drópe is very slight; and the caesura follows. Fille is the pt. t. subjunctive, as distinct from fil, the pt. t. indicative. It means ‘should fall.’

134.ferthing signifies literally a fourth part, and hence a small portion, or a spot. In Caxton’s Book of Curtesye, st. 27, such a spot of grease is called a ‘fatte ferthyng.’

sen-e, visible, is an adjective, A. S. gesēne, and takes a final -e. This distinguishes it from the pp. seen, which is monosyllabic, and cannot rime with clen-e. The fuller form y-sen-e occurs in l. 592, where it rimes with len-e.

136. ‘Full seemlily she reached towards her meat (i. e. what she had to eat), and certainly she was of great merriment (or geniality).’

Mete is often used of eatables in general. raughte (rauhtǝ), pt. t. of rechen, to reach.

147.wastel-breed. Horses and dogs were not usually fed on wastel-breed or cake-bread (bread made of the best flour), but on coarse lentil bread baked for that purpose. See Our English Home, pp. 79, 80. Edition: current; Page: [17] The O. F. wastel subsequently became gastel, gasteau, mod. F. gâteau, cake. Cf. P. Plowman, B. vi. 217, and the note; Riley, Memorials of London, p. 108.

148. The syllable she is here very light; she if oon constitutes the third foot in the line. After she comes the caesural pause. weep, wept; A. S. wēop.

149.men smoot, one smote. If men were the ordinary plural of man, smoot ought to be smiten (pl. past); but men is here used like the Ger. man, French on, with the singular verb. It is, in fact, merely the unaccented form of man. yerde, stick, rod; mod. E. yard. smerte, sharply; adv.

151.wimpel. The wimple or gorger is stated first to have appeared in Edward the First’s reign. It was a covering for the neck, and was used by nuns and elderly ladies. See Fairholt’s Costume, 1885, ii. 413; Ancren Riwle, ed. Morton, p. 420.

pinched, gathered in small pleats, closely pleated.

‘But though I olde and hore be, sone myne,

And poore by my clothing and aray,

And not so wyde a gown have as is thyne,

So small ypynched and so gay,

My rede in happe yit the profit may.’

Hoccleve, De Regimine Principum, ed. Wright, p. 15.

152.tretys, long and well-shaped. From O. F. traitis, Low Lat. tractitius, i. e. drawn out; from L. trahere. Chaucer found the O. F. traitis in the Romaunt of the Rose, and translated it by tretys; see l. 1216 of the E. version. Cf. fetis from factitius; l. 157. eyen greye. This seems to have been the favourite colour of ladies’ eyes in Chaucer’s time, and even later. Cf. A. 3974; Rom. Rose, 546, 862; &c. ‘Her eyen gray and stepe’; Skelton’s Philip Sparowe, 1014 (see Dyce’s note).

‘Her eyes are grey as glass.’—Two Gent. of Verona, iv. 4. 197.

‘Hyr forheed lely-whyht,

Hyr bent browys blake, and hyr grey eyne,

Hyr chyry chekes, hyr nose streyt and ryht,

Hyr lyppys rody.’—Lives of Saints, Roxburgh Club, p. 14.

‘Wyth eyene graye, and browes bent,

And yealwe traces [tresses], and fayre y-trent,

Ech her semede of gold;

Hure vysage was fair and tretys,

Hure body iantil and pure fetys,

And semblych of stature.’—Sir Ferumbras, l. 5881.

‘Dame Gaynour, with hur gray een.’

Three Met. Romances, ed. Robson, p. 22.

‘Hys eyen grey as crystalle stone’;—Sir Eglamour, l. 861.

‘Put out my eyen gray’;—Sir Launfal, l. 810.

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156.hardily is here used for sikerly, certainly; so also in E. 25. undergrowe, undergrown; i. e. of short, stinted growth.

159.bedes. The word bede signifies, (1) a prayer; (2) a string of grains upon which the prayers were counted, or the grains themselves. The beads were made of coral, jet, cornelian, pearls, or gold. A pair here means ‘a set.’ ‘A peire of bedis eke she bere’; Rom. Rose, 7372.

‘Sumtyme with a portas, sumtyme with a payre of bedes.’

Bale’s King John, p. 27; Camden Soc.

gauded al with grene, ‘having the gawdies green. Some were of silver gilt.’—T. The gawdies or gaudees were the larger beads in the set. ‘One payre of beads of silver with riche gaudeys’; Monast. Anglicanum, viii. 1206; qu. by Rock, Church of our Fathers, iii. i. 403. ‘Unum par de Iett [jet] gaudyett with sylver’; Nottingham Records, iii. 188. ‘A peyre bedys of jeete [get], gaudied with corall’; Bury Wills, p. 82, l. 16: the note says that every eleventh bead, or gaudee, stood for a Paternoster: the smaller beads, each for an Ave Maria. The common number was 55, for 50 Aves and 5 Paternosters. The full number was 165, for 150 Aves and 15 Paternosters, also called a Rosary or Our Lady’s Psalter; see the poem on Our Lady’s Psalter in Horstmann, Altenglische Legenden, Neue Folge, 1881, pp. 220–4. ‘Gaudye of beedes, signeau de paternoster.’—Palsgrave. Gower (Conf. Amant., ed. Pauli, iii. 372) mentions ‘A paire of bedes blacke as sable,’ with ‘gaudees.’ See Gaudia and Precula in Ducange. Gaudee originally meant a prayer beginning with Gaudete, whence the name; see Gaudez in Cotgrave.

160.broche=brooch, signified, (1) a pin; (2) a breast-pin; (3) a buckle or clasp; (4) a jewel or ornament. It was an ornament common to both sexes. The brooch seems to have been made in the shape of a capital A, surmounted by a crown. See the figure of a silver-gilt brooch in the shape of an A in the Glossary to Fairholt’s, Costume in England. The ‘crowned A’ is supposed to represent Amor or Charity, the greatest of all the Christian graces. ‘Omnia uincit amor’; Vergil, Eclog. x. 69. Cf. the use of AMOR as a motto in the Squyer of Lowe Degree, l. 215.

161.write is short for writen (writ·en), pp. of wryten (wrii·ten), to write.

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The Nonne and Three Preestes.

163.Another Nonne. It was not common for Prioresses to have female chaplains; but Littré gives chapelaine, fem., as an old title of dignity in a nunnery. Moreover, it is an office still held in most Benedictine convents, as is fully explained in a letter written by a modern Nun-Chaplain, and printed in Anglia, iv. 238. See also N. and Q. 7 S. vi. 485; The Academy, Aug. 23, 1890, p. 152.

164. The mention of three priests presents some difficulty. To make up the twenty-nine mentioned in l. 24, we only want one priest, and it is afterwards assumed that there was but one priest, viz. the Nonnes Preest, who tells the tale of the Cock and Fox. Chaucer also, in all other cases, supposes that there was but one representative of each class.

The most likely solution is that Chaucer wrote a character of the Second Nun, beginning—

‘Another Nonne with hir hadde she

That was hir chapeleyne’—

and that, for some reason, he afterwards suppressed the description. The line left imperfect, as above, may have been filled up, to stop a gap, either by himself (temporarily), or indeed by some one else.

If we are to keep the text (which stands alike in all MSS.), we must take ‘wel nyne and twenty’ to mean ‘at least nine and twenty.’

The letter from the Nun-Chaplain mentioned in the last note shews that an Abbess might have as many as five priests, as well as a chaplain. See Essays on Chaucer (Ch. Soc.), p. 183. The difficulty is, merely, how to reconcile this line with l. 24.

The Monk.

165.a fair, i. e. a fair one. Cf. ‘a merye’ in l. 208; and l. 339.

for the maistrye is equivalent to the French phrase pour la maistrie, which in old medical books is ‘applied to such medicines as we usually call sovereign, excellent above all others’; Tyrwhitt. We may explain it by ‘as regards superiority,’ or, ‘to shew his excellence.’ Cf. ‘An stede he gan aprikie · wel vor the maistrie’; Rob. of Glouc. l. 11554 (or ed. Hearne, p. 553).

In the Romance of Sir Launfal, ed. Ritson, l. 957, is a description of a saddle, adorned with ‘twey stones of Ynde Gay for the maystrye’; i. e. preëminently gay.

Several characteristics of various orders of monks are satirically noted in Wright’s Political Songs, pp. 137–148.

166.out-rydere, outrider; formerly the name of an officer of a monastery or abbey, whose duty was to look after the manors belonging to it; or, as Chaucer himself explains it, in B. 1255—

The Lat. name for this officer was exequitator, as appears from Wyclif, Sermones, iii. 326 (Wyclif Soc.). I am indebted for these references and for the explanation of out-rydere to Mr. Tancock; see his note in N. and Q. 7 S. vi. 425. The same vol. of Visitations also shews that, in the same abbey, another monk, ‘Thomas Stonham tertius prior’ was devoted to hunting; ‘communis venator . . . solet exire solus ad venatum mane in aurora.’ There is also a complaint of the great number of dogs kept there—‘superfluus numerus canum est in domo.’ In the Rolls of Parliament (1406), vol. iii. p. 598, the sheriffs collect payments for the repair of roads and bridges ‘par lour Ministres appellez Outryders’; N. and Q. 8 S. ii. 39. Note that this fully explains the use of outryders in P. Plowman, C. v. 116.

venerye, hunting; cf. A. 2308. ‘The monks of the middle ages were extremely attached to hunting and field-sports; and this was a frequent subject of complaint with the more austere ecclesiastics, and of satire with the laity.’—Wright. See Strutt’s Sports and Pastimes, bk. i. c. 1. §§ 9, 10; Our Eng. Home, p. 23. From Lat. uenari, to hunt.

170.Ginglen, jingle. (The line is deficient in the first foot.) Fashionable riders were in the habit of hanging small bells on the bridles and harness of their horses. Wyclif speaks of ‘a worldly preest . . in pompe and pride, coveitise and envye . . with fatte hors, and jolye and gaye sadeles, and bridelis ryngynge be the weye, and himself in costy clothes and pelure’ [fur]; Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 519, 520.

In Richard Cuer de Lion, l. 1517, we read of a mounted messenger, with silk trappings—

172.Ther as=where that. keper, principal, head, i.e. prior. celle, cell; a ‘cell’ was a small monastery or nunnery, dependent on a larger one. ‘Celle, a religious house, subordinate to some great Edition: current; Page: [21] abby. Of these cells some were altogether subject to their respective abbies, who appointed their officers, and received their revenues; while others consisted of a stated number of monks, who had a prior sent them from the abby, and who paid an annual pension as an acknowledgment of their subjection; but, in other matters, acted as an independent body, and received the rest of their revenues for their own use. These priories or cells were of the same order with the abbies on whom they depended. See Tanner, Pref. Not. Monast. p. xxvii.’—Todd, Illustrations of Chaucer, p. 326. Cf. note to l. 670, and especially the note to D. 2259.

173.The reule (rule) of seint Maure (St. Maur) and that of seint Beneit (St. Benet or Benedict) were the oldest forms of monastic discipline in the Romish Church. St. Maur (Jan. 15) was a disciple of St. Benet (Dec. 4), who founded the Benedictine order, and died about ad 542.

175. The Harl. MS. reads, ‘This ilke monk leet forby hem pace’ (error for leet hem forby him pace?), ‘This same monk let them pass by him unobserved.’ hem refers to the rules of St. Maur and St. Benet, which were too streit (strict) for this ‘lord’ or superior of the house, who preferred a milder sort of discipline. Forby is still used in Scotland for by or past. pace, pass by, remain in abeyance; cf. pace, pass on, proceed, in l. 36. hem, them; originally dat. pl. of he.

176.space, course (Lat. spatium); ‘and held his course in conformity with the new order of things.’

177.yaf not of, gave not for, valued not. yaf is the pt. t. of yeven or yiven, to give.

a pulled hen, lit. a plucked hen; hence, the value of a hen without its feathers; see l. 652. In D. 1112, the phrase is ‘not worth a hen.’ Tyrwhitt says, ‘I do not see much force in the epithet pulled’; but adds, in his Glossary—‘I have been told since, that a hen whose feathers are pulled, or plucked off, will not lay any eggs.’ Becon speaks of a ‘polled hen,’ i. e. pulled hen, as one unable to fly; Works, p. 533; Parker Soc. It is only one of the numerous old phrases for expressing that a thing is of small value. See l. 182. I may add that pulled, in the sense of ‘plucked off the feathers,’ occurs in the Manciple’s Tale; H. 304. And see Troil. v. 1546.

text, remark in writing; the word was used of any written statement that was frequently quoted. The allusion is to the legend of Nimrod, ‘the mighty hunter’ (Gen. x. 9), which described him as a very bad man. ‘Mikel he cuth [much he knew] o sin and scham’; Cursor Mundi, l. 2202. It was he (it was said) who built the tower of Babel, and introduced idolatry and fire-worship. All this has ceased to be familiar, and the allusion has lost its point. ‘We enjoin that a priest be not a hunter, nor a hawker, nor a dicer’; Canons of King Edgar, translated; no. 64. See my note to P. Plowman, C. vi. 157.

Edition: current; Page: [22]

179.recchelees (in MS. E.) means careless, regardless of rule; but ‘a careless monk’ is not necessarily ‘a monk out of his cloister.’ But the reading cloisterless (in MS. Harl.) solves the difficulty; being a coined word, Chaucer goes on to explain it in l. 181. See the quotation from Jehan de Meung in the next note.

179–81. This passage, says Tyrwhitt, ‘is attributed by Gratian (Decretal. P. ii. Cau. xvi. q. l. c. viii.) to a pope Eugenius: Sicut piscis sine aqua caret vita, ita sine monasterio monachus.’ Joinville says, ‘The Scriptures do say that a monk cannot live out of his cloister without falling into deadly sins, any more than a fish can live out of water without dying.’ Cf. Piers Plowman, B. x. 292; and my note.

187, 188.Austin, St. Augustine. The reference is to St. Augustine Edition: current; Page: [23] of Hippo, after whom the Augustinian Canons were named. Their rule was compiled from his writings. Thus we read that ‘bothe monks and chanouns forsaken the reules of Benet and Austyn’; Wyclif’s Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 511. And again—‘Seynt Austyn techith munkis to labore with here hondis, and so doth seint Benet and seynt Bernard’; Wyclif’s Works, ed. Matthew, p. 51. See Cutts, Scenes and Characters, &c.; ch. ii. and ch. iii.

189.a pricasour, a hard rider. priking, hard riding (l. 191).

190. Cf. ‘Also fast so the fowl in flyght’; Ywaine and Gawin, 630.

192.for no cost, for no expense. Dr. Morris explains for no cost by ‘for no reason,’ and certainly M. E. cost sometimes has such a force; but see ll. 213, 799, where it clearly means ‘expense.’

193.seigh, saw; A. S. sēah, pt. t. of sēon, to see.

purfiled, edged with fur. The M. E. purfil signifies the embroidered or furred hem of a garment, so that purfile is to work upon the edge. Purfiled has also a more extended meaning, and is applied to garments overlaid with gems or other ornaments. ‘Pourfiler d’or, to purfle, tinsell, or overcast with gold thread,’ &c.: Cotgrave. Spenser uses purfled in the Fairy Queene, i. 2. 13; ii. 3. 26. Cf. note to P. Plowman, C. iii. 10.

194.grys, a sort of costly grey fur, formerly very much esteemed; O. F. gris, Rom. de la Rose, 9121, 9307; Sir Tristrem, l. 1381. ‘The grey is the back-fur of the northern squirrel’; L. Gautier, Chivalry (Eng. tr.), p. 323. Such a dress as is here described must have been very expensive. In 1231 (Close Roll, 16 Hen. III.), king Henry III. had a skirt (iupa) of scarlet, furred with red gris. See Gloss. to Liber Custumarum, ed. Riley, s. v. griseum, p. 806.

In Lydgate’s Dance of Macabre, the Cardinal is made to regret—

‘That I shal never hereafter clothed be

In grise nor ermine, like unto my degree.’

The Council of London (1342) reproaches the religious orders with wearing clothing ‘fit rather for knights than for clerks, that is to say, short, very tight, with excessively wide sleeves, not reaching the elbows, but hanging down very low, lined with fur or with silk’; see J. Jusserand, English Wayfaring Life (1889). Cf. Wyclif, Works, ed. Matthew, p. 121.

‘This worshipful man, this dene, came rydynge into a good paryssh with a x. or xii. horses lyke a prelate’; Caxton, Fables of Æsop, &c.; last fable; cf. l. 204 below.

196. ‘He had an elaborate brooch, made of gold, with a love-knot in the larger end.’ love-knotte, a complicated twist, with loops.

201.stepe, E. E. steap, does not here mean sunken, but bright, burning, fiery. Mr. Cockayne has illustrated the use of this word in his Seinte Marherete, pp. 9, 108: ‘His twa ehnen [semden] steappre þene steorren,’ his two eyes seemed brighter than stars. So also: ‘schininde and schenre, of ȝimstanes steapre then is eni steorre,’ shining and clearer, brighter with gems than is any star; St. Katherine, l. 1647. The expression ‘eyen gray and stepe,’ i. e. bright, has already been quoted in the note to l. 152. So also ‘Eyyen stepe and graye’; King of Tars, l. 15 (in Ritson, Met. Rom. ii. 157); and again, ‘thair een steep’; Palladius on Husbandry, bk. iv. l. 800. Cf. stemed in the next line; and see l. 753.

202.stemed as a forneys of a leed, shone like the fire under a cauldron. Here stemed is related to the M. E. stēm, a bright light, used in Havelok, 591. Cf. ‘two stemyng eyes,’ two bright eyes; Sir T. Wiat, Sat. i. 53. That refers to eyen, not to heed.

A kitchen-copper is still sometimes called a lead. As to the word leed, which is the same as the modern E. lead (the metal), Mr. Stevenson, in his edition of the Nottingham Records, iii. 493, observes—‘That these vessels were really made of lead we have ample evidence’; and refers us to the Laws of Æthelstán, iv. 7 (Schmid, Anhang, xvi. § 1); &c. He adds—‘The lead was frequently fixed, like a modern domestic copper, over a grate. The grate and flue were known as a furnace. Hence the frequent expression—a lead in furnace.’ See also led in Havelok, l. 924; and lead in Tusser’s Husbandrie, E. D. S.

203.botes souple, boots pliable, soft, and close-fitting.

‘This is part of the description of a smart abbot, by an anonymous writer of the thirteenth century: “Ocreas habebat in cruribus quasi innatae essent, sine plica porrectas.”—MS. Bodley, James, no. 6. p. 121.’—T. See Rom. of the Rose, 2265–70 (vol. i. p. 173).

205.for-pyned, ‘tormented,’ and hence ‘wasted away’; from pine. The for- is intensive, as in Eng. forswear.

The Frere.

208.Frere, friar. The four orders of mendicant friars mentioned in l. 210 were:—(1) The Dominicans, or friars-preachers, who took up their abode in Oxford in 1221, known as the Black Friars. (2) The Franciscans, founded by St. Francis of Assisi in 1209, and known by the name of Grey Friars. They made their first appearance in England in 1224. (3) The Carmelites, or White Friars. (4) The Augustin (or Austin) Friars. The friar was popular with the mercantile classes on account of his varied attainments and experience. ‘Who else so welcome at the houses of men to whom scientific skill and information, scanty as they might be, were yet of no inconsiderable service and attraction. He alone of learned and unlearned possessed some knowledge of foreign countries and their productions; he alone was acquainted with the composition and decomposition of bodies, with the art of distillation, Edition: current; Page: [25] with the construction of machinery, and with the use of the laboratory.’ See Professor Brewer’s Preface to Monumenta Franciscana, p. xlv; and, in particular, the poem called ‘Pierce the Ploughman’s Crede,’ and the satirical piece against the Friars entitled Jack Upland, formerly printed with Chaucer’s Works. Several pieces against them will also be found in Political Poems, ed. Wright (Record Series); and there are numerous outspoken attacks upon them in Wyclif’s various works, as, e.g. in the Select Eng. Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 366, and in his Works, ed. Matthew, p. 47. See also the chapter on Friars in the E. translation of Jusserand, Eng. Wayfaring Life; p. 293.

Many of the remarks concerning the Frere are ultimately due to Le Roman de la Rose. See The Romaunt of the Rose, ll. 6161–7698; in vol. i. pp. 234–259.

wantown, sometimes written wantowen, literally signifies untrained, and hence wild, brisk, lively. wan- is a common M. E. prefix, equivalent to our un- or dis-, as in wanhope, despair; towen or town occurs in M. E. writers for well-behaved, well-taught; from A. S. togen, pp. of tēon, to educate.

merye, pleasant; cf. M. E. mery wether, pleasant weather.

209.limitour was a begging friar to whom was assigned a certain district or limit, within which he was permitted to solicit alms; it was also his business to solicit persons to purchase a partnership, or brotherhood, in the merits of their conventual services. See Tyndale’s Works, i. 212 (Parker Soc.); and note to P. Plowman, B. v. 138. Hence in later times the verb limit signifies to beg.

212. ‘He had, at his own expense, well married many young women.’ This is less generous than might appear; for it almost certainly refers to young women who had been his concubines. As Dr. Furnivall remarks in his Temporary Preface, p. 118—‘the true explanation lies in the following extract from a letter of Dr. Layton to Cromwell, in 1535 ad, in Mr. Thos. Wright’s edition of Letters on the Suppression of the Monasteries (Camden Soc.), p. 58: [At Maiden Bradley, near Bristol] “is an holy father prior, and hath but vj. children, and but one dowghter mariede yet of the goodes of the monasterie, trystyng shortly to mary the reste. His sones be tall men, waittyng upon him; and he thankes Gode a never medelet with marytt women, Edition: current; Page: [26] but all with madens, the faireste cowlde be gottyn, and always marede them ryght well.” ’

214.post, pillar or support, as in Troil. i. 1000. See Gal. ii. 9.

216.frankeleyns, wealthy farmers; see l. 331. over-al, everywhere.

217.worthy, probably ‘wealthy’; or else, ‘respectable.’ Cf. l. 68.

219. The word mór-e occupies the fourth foot in the line; cf. n. to l. 320. It is an adj., with the sense of ‘greater.’

220.licentiat. He had a licence from the Pope ‘to hear confessions, &c., in all places, independently of the local ordinaries.’—T. The curate, or parish priest, could not grant absolution in all cases, some of which were reserved for the bishop’s decision. See Wyclif’s Works, ed. Arnold, iii. 394.

224.wiste to han, knew (he was sure) to have.

pitaunce here signifies a mess of victuals. It originally signified an extraordinary allowance of victuals given to monastics, in addition to their usual commons, and was afterwards applied to the whole allowance of food for a single person, or to a small portion of anything.

avaunt, a boast, is from the O. F. vb. avanter, to boast, an intensive form of vanter, whence E. vaunt.

230.he may not, he is not able to. him sore smerte, it may pain him, or grieve him, sorely.

232.Men moot, one ought to. Here moot is singular; cf. l. 149.

233.tipet, a loose hood, which seems to have been used as a pocket. ‘When the Order [of Franciscans] degenerated, the friar combined with the spiritual functions the occupation of pedlar, huxter, mountebank, and quack doctor.’ (Brewer.) ‘Thei [the friars] becomen pedderis [pedlars], berynge knyues, pursis, pynnys, and girdlis, and spices, and sylk, and precious pellure and forrouris [sorts of fur] for wymmen, and therto smale gentil hondis [dogs], to gete love of hem, and to haue many grete yiftis for litil good or nought.’—Wyclif’s Works, ed. Matthew, p. 12. As to the tipet, cf. notes to ll. 682, 3953.

In an old poem printed in Brewer’s Monumenta Franciscana, we have the following allusion to the dealings of the friar:—

‘For thai have noght to lyve by, they wandren here and there,

And dele with dyvers marche, right as thai pedlers were;

Thei dele with pynnes and knyves,

With gyrdles, gloves for wenches and wyves,

Ther thai are haunted till.’

In a poem in MS. Camb., Ff. 1. 6, fol. 156, it is explained that the limitour craftily gives ‘pynnys, gerdyllis, and knyeffs’ to wommen, in order to receive better things in return. He could get knives for Edition: current; Page: [27] less than a penny a-piece. Cf. ‘De j. doss. cultellorum dict. penyware. xd.’; York Wills, iii. 96.

Women used to wear knives sheathed and suspended from their girdles; such knives were often given to a bride. See the chapter on Bride-knives in Brand’s Popular Antiquities.

farsed, stuffed; from F. farcir. Cf. E. farce.

236.rote is a kind of fiddle or ‘crowd,’ not a hurdy-gurdy, as it is explained by Ritson, and in the glossary to Sir Tristrem. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10. 3; iv. 9. 6; Sir Degrevant, l. 37 (see Halliwell’s note, at p. 289 of the Thornton Romances). See my Etym. Dictionary.

237.yeddinges, songs embodying some popular tales or romances. In Sir Degrevant, l. 1421, we are told that a lady ‘song yeddyngus,’ i.e. sang songs. For singing such songs, he was in the highest estimation. From A. S. geddian, to sing. Cf. P. Plowman, A. i. 138:—‘Ther thou art murie at thy mete, whon me biddeth the yedde.’

241.tappestere, a female tapster. In olden times the retailers of beer, and for the most part the brewers also, appear to have been females. The -stere or -ster as a feminine affix (though in the fourteenth century it is not always or regularly used as such) occurs in M. E. brewstere, webbestere, Eng. spinster. In huckster, maltster, songster, this affix has acquired the meaning of an agent; and in youngster, gamester, punster, &c., it implies contempt. See Skeat, Principles of Etymology, pt. i. § 238. Cf. beggestere, female beggar, 242.

242.Bet, better, adv.; as distinguished from bettre, adj. (l. 524).

lazar, a leper; from Lazarus, in the parable of Dives and Lazarus; hence lazaretto, a hospital for lepers, a lazar-house.

244. ‘It was unsuitable, considering his ability.’

246. ‘It is not becoming, it may not advance (profit) to deal with (associate with) any such poor people.’ Cf. Rom. of the Rose, 6455, 6462; and note to P. Plowman, C. xiii. 21.

247. The line is imperfect in the first foot.

poraille, rabble of poor people; from O. F. povre, poor.

248.riche, i. e. rich people.

249, 250. ‘And everywhere, wherever profit was likely to accrue, courteous he was, and humble in offering his services.’

251.vertuous, (probably) energetic, efficient; cf. vertu in l. 4.

252, 253. Between these two lines the Hengwrt MS. inserts the two lines marked 252 b and 252 c, which are omitted in the other MSS., though they certainly appear to be genuine, and are found in all the black-letter editions, which follow Thynne. In the Six-text edition, which is here followed, they are not counted in. Tyrwhitt both inserts and numbers them; hence a slight difference in the methods of numbering the lines after this line. Tyrwhitt’s numbering is given, Edition: current; Page: [28] at every tenth line, within marks of parenthesis, for convenience of reference. The sense is—‘And gave a certain annual payment for the grant (to be licensed to beg; in consequence of which) none of his brethren came with his limit.’

ferme is the mod. E. farm; cf. ‘to farm revenues.’

253.sho, shoe; not sou (as has been suggested), which would (in fact) give a false rime. So also ‘worth his olde sho’; D. 708.

The friars were not above receiving even the smallest articles; and ferthing, in l. 255, may be explained by ‘small article,’ of a farthing’s value. See l. 134.

‘For had a man slayn al his kynne,

Go shryve him at a frere;

And for lasse then a payre of shone

He wyl assoil him clene and sone!’

Polit. Poems, ed. Wright; i. 266.

‘Ever be giving of somewhat, though it be but a cheese, or a piece of bacon, to the holy order of sweet St. Francis, or to any other of my [i. e. Antichrist’s] friars, monks, canons, &c. Holy Church refuseth nothing, but gladly taketh whatsoever cometh.’—Becon’s Acts of Christ and of Antichrist, vol. iii. p. 531 (Parker Society). And see the Somp. Tale, D. 1746–1751.

254.In principio. The reference is to the text in John i. 1, as proved by a passage from Tyndale (Works, ed. 1572, p. 271, col. 2; or iii. 61, Parker Soc.):—‘Such is the limiter’s saying of In principio erat verbum, from house to house.’ Sir Walter Scott copies this phrase in The Fair Maid of Perth, ch. iii. The friars constantly quoted this text.

256.purchas=proceeds of his begging. What he acquired in this way was greater than his rent or income. ‘Purchase, . . any method of acquiring an estate otherwise than by descent’; Blackstone, Comment. I. iii. For rente, see l. 373.

We find also: ‘My purchas is theffect of al my rente’; D. 1451.

‘To winne is alway myn entent,

My purchas is better than my rent.’

Romaunt of the Rose, l. 6837;

where the F. original has (l. 11760)—‘Miex vaut mes porchas que ma rente.’

257.as it were right (E. Hn. &c.); and pleye as (Hl.). The sense is—‘and he could romp about, exactly as if he were a puppy-dog.’

258.love-dayes. ‘Love-days (dies amoris) were days fixed for settling differences by umpire, without having recourse to law or violence. The ecclesiastics seem generally to have had the principal share in the management of these transactions, which, throughout the Vision of Piers Ploughman, appear to be censured as the means of hindering justice and of enriching the clergy.’—Wright’s Vision of Piers Ploughman, vol. ii. p. 535.

260.cope, a priest’s vestment; a cloak forming a semicircle when laid flat; the semi-cope (l. 262) was a short cloak or cape. Cf. Pierce the Ploughman’s Crede, ll. 227, 228:—

‘His cope that biclypped him, wel clene was it folden,

Of double-worstede y-dyght, doun to the hele.’

This line is a little awkward to scan. With a thred- constitutes the first foot; and povre is povr’ (cp. mod. F. pauvre).

261. ‘The kyng or the emperour myghtte with worschipe were a garnement of a frere for goodnesse of the cloth’; Wyclif’s Works, ed. Matthew, p. 50.

263.rounded, assumed a round form; used intransitively. presse, the mould in which a bell is cast; cf. l. 81.

264.lipsed, lisped; by metathesis of s and p. See footnote to l. 273.

for his wantownesse, by way of mannerism.

The Marchant.

270.a forked berd. In the time of Edward III. forked beards were the fashion among the franklins and bourgeoisie, according to the English custom before the Conquest. See Fairholt’s Costume in England, fig. 30.

276.were kept, should be guarded; so that he should not suffer from Edition: current; Page: [30] pirates or privateers. ‘The old subsidy of tonnage and poundage was given to the king for the safeguard and custody of the sea 12. Edw. IV. c. 3.’—T.

‘The see wel kept, it must be don for drede.’

A Libell of English Policie, l. 1083.

In 1360, a commission was granted to John Gibone to proceed, with certain ships of the Cinque Ports, to free the sea from pirates and others, the enemies of the king; Appendix E. to Rymer’s Fœdera, p. 50.

for any thing, i. e. for any sake, at any cost. The A. S. thing is often used in the sense of ‘sake,’ ‘cause,’ or ‘reason.’ For in Chaucer also means ‘against,’ or ‘to prevent,’ but not (I think) here.

277.Middelburgh and Orewelle. ‘Middelburgh is still a well-known port of the island of Walcheren, in the Netherlands, almost immediately opposite Harwich, beside which are the estuaries of the rivers Stoure and Orwell. This spot was formerly known as the port of Orwell or Orewelle.’—Saunders, p. 229.

This mention of Middelburgh ‘proves that the Prologue must have been written not before 1384, and not later than 1388. In the year 1384 the wool-staple was removed from Calais and established at Middelburgh; in 1388 it was fixed once more at Calais; see Craik’s Hist. of Brit. Commerce, i. 123.’—Hales, Folia Literaria, p. 100. This note has a special importance.

278. ‘He well knew how to make a profit by the exchange of his crowns’ in the different money-markets of Europe. Sheeldes are crowns (O. F. escuz, F. écus), named from their having on one side the figure of a shield. They were valued at half a noble, or 3s. 4d.; Appendix E. to Rymer’s Fœdera, p. 55. See B. 1521.

281, 282. ‘So ceremoniously (or, with such lofty bearing) did he order his bargains and agreements for borrowing money.’ A chevisaunce was an agreement for borrowing money on credit; cf. B. 1519; also P. Plowman, B. v. 249, and the note. From F. chevir, to accomplish; cf. E. achieve.

284.noot = ne + woot, know not; so niste = ne + wiste, knew not.

The Clerk.

285.Clerk, a university student, a scholar preparing for the priesthood. It also signifies a man of learning, a man in holy orders. See Edition: current; Page: [31] Anstey’s Munimenta Academica for much interesting information on early Oxford life and studies.

Oxenford, Oxford, as if ‘the ford of the oxen’ (A. S. Oxnaford); and it has not been proved that this etymology is wrong.

302.yaf him, ‘gave him (money) wherewith to attend school.’ An allusion to the common practice, at this period, of poor scholars in the Universities, who wandered about the country begging, to raise money to support them in their studies. Luther underwent a similar experience. Cf. P. Plowman, B. vii. 31; also Ploughman’s Crede, ed. Skeat, p. 71.

305. ‘With propriety (due form) and modesty.’

307.Souninge in, conducing to; cf. note to l. 275 above.

The Man of Lawe.

309.war, wary, cautions; A. S. wær, aware. Cf. l. 157.

310.at the parvys, at the church-porch, or portico of St. Paul’s, where the lawyers were wont to meet for consulation. See Ducange, s. v. paradisus, which is the Latin form whence the O. F. parvis is derived. Also the note in Warton, Hist. E. Poet., ed. 1840, ii. 212; cf. Anglia, viii. 453. And see Rom. of the Rose. 7108, and the note.

323, 324. ‘He was well acquainted with all the legal cases and decisions (or decrees) which had been ruled in the courts of law (lit. had befallen) since the time of William the Conqueror.’ In termes hadde he, he had in terms, knew how to express in proper terms, was well acquainted with.

325.Therto, moreover. make, compose, draw up, draught.

326.pinche at, find fault with; lit. nip, twitch at.

327.coude he, he knew; coude is the pt. t. of konnen, to know, A. S. cunnan.

328.medlee cote, a coat of mixed stuff or colour. In 1303, we find mention of ‘one woman’s surcoat of medley’; see Memorials of London, ed. Riley, p. 48.

329.ceint of silk, &c., a girdle of silk, with small ornaments. The barres were called cloux in French (Lat. clavus), and were the usual ornaments of a girdle. They were perforated to allow the tongue of the buckle to pass through them. ‘Originally they were attached transversely to the wide tissue of which the girdle was formed, but subsequently were round or square, or fashioned like the heads of lions, and similar devices, the name of barre being still retained, though improperly.’—Way, in Promptorium Parvulorum; s. v. barre. And see Bar in the New English Dictionary. Gower also has: ‘a ceinte of silk’; C. A. ed. Pauli, ii. 30. Cf. A. 3235, and Rom. of the Rose, 1085, 1103.

The Frankeleyn.

331. Fortescue (De Laudibus Legum Angliae, c. 29) describes a franklin to be a pater familias—magnis ditatus possessionibus; i. e. he was a substantial householder and a man of some importance. See Warton, Hist. E. Poet., ed. 1840, ii. 202; and Gloss. to P. Plowman.

332.dayes-ye, daisy; A. S. dæges ēage, lit. eye of day (the sun).

333. ‘He was sanguine of complexion.’ The old school of medicine, following Galen, supposed that there were four ‘humours,’ viz. hot, cold, moist, and dry (see l. 420), and four complexions or temperaments of men, viz. the sanguine, the choleric, the phlegmatic, and the melancholy. The man of sanguine complexion abounded in hot and moist humours, as shown in the following description, given in the Oriel MS. 79 (as quoted in my Preface to P. Plowman, B-text, p. xix):—

Edition: current; Page: [33]

‘Sanguineus.

Largus, amans, hilaris, ridens, rubeique coloris,

Cantans, carnosus, satis audax, atque benignus:

multum appetit, quia calidus; multum potest, quia humidus.’

334.by the morwe, in the morning.

a sop in wyn, wine with pieces of cake or bread in it; see E. 1843. See Brand, Antiq. (ed. Ellis), ii. 137. Later, sop-in-wine was a jocose name for a kind of pink or carnation; id. ii. 91.

In the Anturs of Arthur at the Tarnewathelan, st. 37, we read that

‘Thre soppus of demayn [i. e. paindemayn]

Wos broght to Sir Gaua[y]n

For to comford his brayne.’

And in MS. Harl. 279, fol. 10, we have the necessary instruction for the making of these sops. ‘Take mylke and boyle it, and thanne tak yolkys of eyroun [eggs], ytryid [separated] fro the whyte, and hete it, but let it nowt boyle, and stere it wyl tyl it be somwhat thikke; thenne cast therto salt and sugre, and kytte [cut] fayre paynemaynnys in round soppys, and caste the soppys theron, and serve it forth for a potage.’—Way, in Promptorium Parvulorum, p. 378. The F. name is soupe au vin. See also Ducange, s. v. Merus.

335.wone, wont, custom; A. S. wuna, ge-wuna.

delyt, delight; the mod. E. word is misspelt; delite would be better.

336. ‘A very son of Epicurus.’ Alluding to the famous Greek philosopher [died bc 270], the author of the Epicurean philosophy, which assumed pleasure to be the highest good. Chaucer here follows Boethius, bk. iii. pr. 2. 54: ‘The whiche delyt only considerede Epicurus, and iuged and establisshed that delyt is the sovereyn good.’ Cf. Troil. iii. 1691, v. 763; also E. 2021.

340. ‘St. Julian was eminent for providing his votaries with good lodgings and accommodation of all sorts. [See Chambers’ Book of Days, ii. 388.] In the title of his legend, Bodl. MS. 1596, fol. 4, he is called “St. Julian the gode herberjour” (St. Julian the good harbourer).’—Tyrwhitt. His day is Jan. 9. See the Lives of Saints, ed. Horstmann (E. E. T. S.); also Gesta Romanorum, ed. Swan, tale 18; Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Leg. Art, ii. 393.

341.after oon, according to one invariable standard; ‘up to the mark’; cf. A. 1781, and the note. A description of a Franklin’s feast is given in the Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 170.

342.envyned, stored with wine. ‘Cotgrave has preserved the French word enviné in the same sense.’—Tyrwhitt.

345. The verb snewed may be explained as a metaphor from snowing; in fact, the M. E. snewe, like the Prov. Eng. snie or snive, also signifies to abound, swarm. Camb. MS. reads ‘It snowede in his mouth of mete and drynk.’ Cf. ‘He was with yiftes [presents] all bisnewed’; Gower, C. A. iii. 51. From A. S. snīwan.

347.After, according to; it depended on what was in season.

348.soper (supee·r), supper; from O. F. infin. soper; cf. F. 1189.

349.mewe. The mewe was the place where the hawks were kept while moulting; it was afterwards applied to the coop wherein fowl were fattened, and lastly to a place of confinement or secrecy.

350.stewe, fish-pond. ‘To insure a supply of fish, stew-ponds were attached to the manors, and few monasteries were without them; the moat around the castle was often converted into a fish-pond, and well stored with luce, carp, or tench.’—Our English Home, p. 65.

breem, bream; luce, pike, from O. F. luce, Low Lat. lucius.

351.Wo was his cook, woeful or sad was his cook. We now only use wo or woe as a substantive. Cf. B. 757, E. 753; and ‘I am woe for ’t’; Tempest, v. 1. 139.

‘Who was woo but Olyvere then?’—Sowdone of Babyloyne, l. 1271. Rob. of Brunne, in his Handlyng Synne, l. 7250, says that a rich man’s cook ‘may no day Greythe hym hys mete to pay.’

but-if, unless.

351, 352.sauce—Poynaunt is like the modern phrase sauce piquante. Cf. B. 4024. ‘Our forefathers were great lovers of “piquant sauce.” They made it of expensive condiments and rare spices.’—Our English Home, p. 62.

353.table dormant, irremoveable table. ‘Previous to the fourteenth century a pair of common wooden trestles and a rough plank was deemed a table sufficient for the great hall. . . . Tables, with a board attached to a frame, were introduced about the time of Chaucer, and, from remaining in the hall, were regarded as indications of a ready hospitality.’—Our English Home, p. 29. Most tables were removeable; such a table was called a bord (board).

355.sessiouns. At the Sessions of the Peace, at the meeting of the Justices of the Peace. Cf. ‘At Sessions and at Sises we bare the stroke and swaye.’—Higgins’ Mirrour for Magistrates, ed. 1571, p. 2.

356.knight of the shire, the designation given to the representative in parliament of an English county at large, as distinguished from the representatives of such counties and towns as are counties of themselves (Ogilvie). Chaucer was knight of the shire of Kent in 1386.

tym-e here represents the A. S. tīman, pl. of tīma, a time.

357.anlas or anelace. Speght defines this word as a falchion, or wood-knife. It was, however, a short two-edged knife or dagger usually worn at the girdle, broad at the hilt and tapering to a point. See the New Eng. Dictionary; Liber Albus, p. 75; Knight, Pict. Hist. of England, i. 872; Gloss. to Matthew Paris, s. v. anelacius; Riley’s Edition: current; Page: [35] Memorials of London, p. 15. The etymology is unknown; I guess it to be from M. E. an, on, and las, a lace, i.e. ‘on a lace,’ a dagger that hung from a lace attached to the girdle. Cf. A. S. bigyrdel (just below); and ‘hanging on a laas’ in l. 392.

gipser was properly a pouch or budget used in hawking, &c., but commonly worn by the merchant, or with any secular attire.—(Way.) It answers to F. gibecière, a pouch; from O. F. gibe, a bunch (Scheler). In Riley’s Memorials of London, p. 398, under the date 1376, there is a mention of ‘purses called gibesers.’ In the Bury Wills, p. 37, l. 16, under the date 1463, we find—‘My best gypcer with iij. bagges.’ The A. S. name was bigyrdel, from its hanging by the girdle, as said in l. 358; it occurs in the A. S. version of Matt. x. 9; and in P. Plowman, B. viii. 87.

359.shirreve, the reve of a shire, governor of a county; our modern word sheriff.

countour, O. Fr. comptour, an accountant, a person who audited accounts or received money in charge, &c.; ranked with pleaders in Riley’s Memorials of London, p. 58. It occurs in Rob. of Gloucester, l. 11153. In the Book of the Duch. 435, it simply means ‘accountant.’ Perhaps it here means ‘auditor.’ ‘Or stewards, countours, or pleadours’; Plowman’s Tale, pt. iii. st. 13.

360.vavasour, or vavaser, originally a sub-vassal or tenant of a vassal or tenant of the king’s, one who held his lands in fealty. ‘Vavasor, one that in dignities is next to a Baron’; Cowel. Strutt (Manners and Customs, iii. 14) explains that a vavasour was ‘a tenant by knight’s service, who did not hold immediately of the king in capite, but of some mesne lord, which excluded him from the dignity of baron by tenure.’ Tyrwhitt says ‘it should be understood to mean the whole class of middling landholders.’ See Lacroix, Military Life of Middle Ages, p. 9. Spelt favasour in King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, l. 3827. A. F. uauassur; Laws of Will. I. c. 20. Lit. ‘vassal of vassals’; Low Lat. vassus vassorum.

The Haberdassher and others.

361.Haberdassher. Haberdashers were of two kinds: haberdashers of small wares—sellers of needles, tapes, buttons, &c.; and haberdashers of hats. The stuff called hapertas is mentioned in the Liber Albus, p. 225.

362.Webbe, properly a male weaver; webstere was the female weaver, but there appears to have been some confusion in the use of the suffixes -e and -stere; see Piers Plowman, ed. Skeat, B. v. 215: ‘mi wyf was a webbe.’ Hence the names Webb and Webster. Cf. Edition: current; Page: [36] A. S. webba, m., a weaver; webbestere, fem. tapicer, upholsterer; F. tapis, carpet.

363.liveree, livery. ‘Under the term “livery” was included whatever was dispensed (delivered) by the lord to his officials or domestics annually or at certain seasons, whether money, victuals, or garments. The term chiefly denoted external marks of distinction, such as the roba estivalis and hiemalis, given to the officers and retainers of the court. . . . The Stat. 7 Hen. IV expressly permits the adoption of such distinctive dress by fraternities and “les gentz de mestere,” the trades of the cities of the realm, being ordained with good intent; and to this prevalent usage Chaucer alludes when he describes five artificers of various callings, who joined the pilgrimage, clothed all in o lyveré of a solempne and greet fraternité.’—Way, note to Prompt. Parv., p. 308. We still speak of the Livery Companies.

And they were clothed alle (Elles., &c.); Weren with vss eeke clothed (Harl.) The former reading leaves the former clause of the sentence without a verb.

364.fraternitee, guild: see English Gilds, ed. Toulmin Smith, pp. xxx, xxxix, cxxii. Each guild had its own livery; Rock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 412.

366.y-chaped, having chapes (i.e. plates or caps of metal at the point of the sheath or scabbard). Tradesmen and mechanics were prohibited from using knives adorned with silver, gold, or precious stones. So that Chaucer’s pilgrims were of a superior estate, as is indicated in l. 369. Cf. chapeless, Taming of the Shrew, iii. 2. 48.

370.deys, dese, or dais (Fr. deis, from Lat. discum, acc.), is used to denote the raised platform which was always found at the upper end of a hall, on which the high table was placed; originally, it meant the high table itself. In modern French and English, it is used of a canopy or ‘tester’ over a seat of state. Tyrwhitt’s account of the word is confused, as he starts with a false etymology.

yeld-halle, guild-hall. See Gildhall in the Index to E. Gilds, ed. Toulmin Smith.

371.that he can, that he knows; so also as he couthe, as he knew how, in l. 390. This line is deficient in the first foot.

372.shaply, adapted, fit; sometimes comely, of good shape. The mention of alderman should be noted. It was the invariable title given to one who was chosen as the head or principal of a guild (see English Gilds, ed. Toulmin Smith, pp. ciii, 36, 148, 276, 446). All these men belonged to a fraternity or guild, and each of them was a fit man to be chosen as head of it.

373. ‘For they had sufficient property and income’ (to entitle them to undertake such an office).

376.y-clept, called; pp. of clepen; see l. 121.

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377.And goon to vigilyes al bifore. ‘It was the manner in times past, upon festival evens, called vigiliæ, for parishioners to meet in their church-houses or church-yards, and there to have a drinking-fit for the time. Here they used to end many quarrels betwixt neighbour and neighbour. Hither came the wives in comely manner, and they which were of the better sort had their mantles carried with them, as well for show as to keep them from cold at table.’—Speght, Gl. to Chaucer.

The Cook.

379.for the nones=for the nonce; this expression, if grammatically written, would be for then once, M. E. for þan anes, for the once, i. e. for the occasion; where the adv. anes (orig. a gen. form) is used as if it were a sb. in the dat. case. Cf. M.E. atte=atten, A. S. æt þām.

382.London ale. London ale was famous as early as the time of Henry III., and much higher priced than any other ale; cf. A. 3140.

Wel coude he knowe, he well knew how to distinguish. In fact, we find, in the Manciple’s Prologue (H. 57), that the Cook loved good ale only too well.

384.mortreux or mortrewes. There were two kinds of ‘mortrews,’ ‘mortrewes de chare’ and ‘mortrewes of fysshe.’ The first was a kind of soup in which chickens, fresh pork, crumbs of bread, yolks of eggs, and saffron formed the chief ingredients; the second kind was a soup containing the roe (or milt) and liver of fish, bread, pepper, ale. The ingredients were first stamped or brayed in a mortar, whence it probably derived its name. Lord Bacon (Nat. Hist. i. 48) speaks of ‘a mortresse made with the brawne of capons stamped and strained.’ See Babees Bock, pp. 151, 170, 172; Liber Cure Cocorum, ed. Morris, pp. 9, 19; and the note to P. Plowman, C. xvi. 47. This line, like ll. 371 and 391, is deficient in the first foot.

386.mormal, a cancer or gangrene. Ben Jonson, in imitation of Edition: current; Page: [38] this passage, has described a cook with an ‘old mortmal on his shin’; Sad Shepherd, act ii. sc. 2 Lydgate speaks of ‘Goutes, mormalles, horrible to the sight’; Falls of Princes, bk. vii. c. 10. In Polit. Religious and Love Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 218, we are told that the sin of Luxury ‘ys a lyther mormale.’ In Skelton’s Magnificence, l. 1932, Adversity is made to say—‘Some with the marmoll to halte I them make’; and it is remarkable that Palsgrave gives both—‘Mormall, a sore,’ and ‘Marmoll, a sore’; the latter being plainly a corrupt form. See also Prompt. Parvulorum, p. 343, note 5. In MS. Oo. i. 20, last leaf, in the Camb. Univ. Library, are notices of remedies ‘Por la maladie que est apele malum mortuum.’ The MS. says that it comes from melancholy, and shows a broad hard scurf or crust.

387.blank-manger, a compound made of capon minced, with rice, milk, sugar, and almonds; see Liber Cure Cocorum, ed. Morris, p. 9. Named from its white colour.

The Shipman.

See the essay on Chaucer’s Shipman in Essays on Chaucer, p. 455.

388.woning, dwelling; from A. S. wunian, to dwell.

by weste=westward. A good old expression, which was once very common as late as the sixteenth century.

389. Dartmouth was once a very considerable port; see Essays on Chaucer, p. 456. Compare the account of the Shipman’s Gild at Lynn; E. Gilds, p. 54.

as he couthe, as he knew how; but, as a sailor, his knowledge this way was deficient.

391.a goune of jalding, a gown (robe) of coarse cloth. The term falding signifies ‘a kind of frieze or rough-napped cloth,’ which was probably ‘supplied from the North of Europe, and identical with the woollen wrappers of which Hermoldus speaks, “quos nos appellamus Faldones.” ’—Way. ‘Falding was a coarse serge cloth, very rough and durable,’ &c.; Essays on Chaucer, p. 438. In MS. O. 5. 4, in Trinity College, Cambridge, occurs the entry—‘Amphibulus, vestis equi villosa, anglice a sclauayn or faldyng’; cited in Furnivall’s Temporary Preface, p. 99. In 1392, I find a mention of ‘unam tunicam de nigro faldyng lineatam’; Testamenta Eboracensia, i. 173. Hence its colour was sometimes black, and the Shipman’s gown is so coloured in the drawing in the Ellesmere MS.; but see A. 3212. See the whole of Way’s long note in the Prompt. Parvulorum.

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392.laas, lace, cord. Seamen still carry their knives slung.

394.the hote somer. ‘Perhaps this is a reference to the summer of the year 1351, which was long remembered as the dry and hot summer.’—Wright. There was another such summer in 1370, much nearer the date of this Prologue. But it may be a mere general expression.

395.a good felawe, a merry companion; as in l. 648.

396–8. ‘Very many a draught of wine had he drawn (stolen away or carried off) from Bordeaux, cask and all, while the chapman (merchant or supercargo to whom the wine belonged) was asleep; for he paid no regard to any conscientious scruples.’

took keep; cf. F. prendre garde.

399.hyer hond, upper hand.

400. ‘He sent them home to wherever they came from by water,’ i.e. he made them ‘walk the plank,’ as it used to be called; or, in plain English, threw them overboard, to sink or swim. However cruel this may seem now, it was probably a common practice. ‘This battle (the sea-fight off Sluys) was very murderous and horrible. Combats at sea are more destructive and obstinate than upon land’; Froissart’s Chron. bk. i. c. 50. See Minot’s Poems, ed. Hall, p. 16. In Wright’s History of Caricature, p. 204, is an anecdote of the way in which the defeat of the French at Sluys was at last revealed to the king of France, Philippe VI., by the court-jester, who alone dared to communicate the news. ‘Entering the King’s chamber, he continued muttering to himself, but loud enough to be heard—“Those cowardly English! the chicken-hearted English!” “How so, cousin?” the king inquired. “Why,” replied the fool, “because they have not courage enough to jump into the sea, like your French soldiers, who went over headlong from their ships, leaving them to the enemy, who had no inclination to follow them.” Philippe thus became aware of the full extent of his calamity.’ And see Essays on Chaucer, p. 460.

402.stremes, currents. him bisydes, ever near at hand.

403.herberwe, harbour; see note to l. 765. mone, moon, time of the lunation.

lodemenage, pilotage. A pilot was called a lodesman; see Way’s note in Prompt. Parv. p. 310; Riley’s Memorials of London, p. 655; Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women, 1488. Furnivall’s Temporary Preface, p. 98, gives the Lat. form as lodmannus, whence lodmannagium, pilotage, examples of which are given. Sometimes, lodesman meant any guide or conductor, as in Rob. of Brunne, Handlyng Synne, 9027; Monk of Evesham, ed. Arber, p. 106. M. E. lode is the A. S. lād, a way, a course, the sb. whence the verb to lead is derived. It is itself derived from A. S. līðan, to travel.

404. Cf. Rom. de la Rose, 5394—‘Qui cercheroit jusqu’en Cartage.’

408.Gootland, Gottland, an island in the Baltic Sea.

409.cryke, creek, harbour, port.

410. We find actual mention of a vessel called the MaudelayneEdition: current; Page: [40] belonging to the port of Dartmouth, in the years 1379 and 1386; see Essays on Chaucer, p. 484. See also N. & Q. 6 S. xii. 47.

The Doctour.

415, 416.kepte, watched. The houres are the astrological hours. He carefully watched for a favourable star in the ascendant. ‘A great portion of the medical science of the middle ages depended upon astrological and other superstitious observances.’—Wright. ‘A Phisition must take heede and aduise him of a certaine thing, that fayleth not, nor deceiueth, the which thing Astronomers of Ægypt taught, that by coniunction of the bodye of the Moone with sterres fortunate, commeth dreadful sicknesse to good end: and with contrary Planets falleth the contrary, that is, to euill ende’; &c.—Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. viii. c. 29. Precisely the same sort of thing was in vogue much later, viz. in 1578; see Bullein’s Dialogue against the Feuer Pestilence (E. E. T. S.), p. 32.

416.magik naturel. Chaucer alludes to the same practices in the House of Fame, 1259–70 (vol. iii. p. 38):—

‘Ther saugh I pleyen Iogelours

. . . . . .

And clerkes eek, which conne wel

Al this magyke naturel,

That craftely don hir ententes

To make, in certeyn ascendentes,

Images, lo! through which magyk

To make a man ben hool or syk.’

417. The ascendent is the point of the zodiacal circle which happens to be ascending above the horizon at a given moment, such as the moment of birth. Upon it depended the drawing out of a man’s horoscope, which represented the aspect of the heavens at some given critical moment. The moment, in the present case, is that for making images. It was believed that images of men and animals could be made of certain substances and at certain times, and could be so treated as to cause good or evil to a patient, by means of magical and planetary influences. See Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia, lib. ii. capp. 35–47. The sense is—‘He knew well how to choose a fortunate ascendant for treating images, to be used as charms to help the patient.’

‘With Astrologie joyne elements also,

To fortune their Workings as theie go.’

Norton’s Ordinall, in Ashmole’s Theatrum Chemicum, p. 60.

420. These are the four elementary qualities, hot, cold, dry, moist; Edition: current; Page: [41] Milton, Par. Lost, ii. 898. Diseases were supposed to be caused by an undue excess of some one quality; and the mixture of prevalent qualities in a man’s body determined his complexion or temperament. Thus the sanguine man was thought to be hot and moist; the phlegmatic, cold and moist; the choleric, hot and dry; the melancholy, cold and dry. The whole system rested on the teaching of Galen, and was fundamentally wrong, as it assumed that the ‘elements,’ or ‘simple bodies,’ were four, viz. earth, air, fire, and water. Of these, earth was said to be cold and dry; water, cold and moist; air, hot and moist; and fire, hot and dry. They thus correspond to the four complexions, viz. melancholy, phlegmatic, sanguine, and choleric. Each principal part of the body, as the brain, heart, liver, stomach, &c., could be ‘distempered,’ and such distemperance could be either ‘simple’ or ‘compound.’ Thus a simple distemperature of the brain might be ‘an excess of heat’; a compound one, ‘an excess of heat and moisture.’ See the whole system explained in Sir Thos. Elyot’s Castel of Helthe; at the beginning.

422.parfit practisour, perfect practitioner.

424.his bote, his remedy; A. S. bōt, a remedy; E. boot.

426.drogges. MS. Harl. dragges; the rest drogges, drugges, drugs. As to dragges (which is quite a different word), the Promptorium Parvulorum has ‘dragge, dragetum’; and Cotgrave defines dragée (the French form of the word dragge) as ‘a kind of digestive powder prescribed unto weak stomachs after meat, and hence any jonkets, comfits, or sweetmeats served in the last course for stomach-closers.’

429–34. Read th’oldë. ‘The authors mentioned here wrote the chief medical text-books of the middle ages. Rufus was a Greek physician of Ephesus, of the age of Trajan; Haly, Serapion, and Avicen (Ebn Sina) were Arabian physicians and astronomers of the eleventh century; Rhasis was a Spanish Arab of the tenth century; and Averroes (Ebn Roschd) was a Moorish scholar who flourished in Morocco in the twelfth century. Johannes Damascenus was also an Arabian physician, but of a much earlier date (probably of the ninth century). Constanti[n]us After, a native of Carthage, and afterwards a monk of Monte Cassino, was one of the founders of the school of Salerno—he lived at the end of the eleventh century. Bernardus Gordonius, professor of medicine at Montpellier, appears to have been Chaucer’s contemporary. John Gatisden was a distinguished physician of Oxford in the earlier half of the fourteenth century. Gilbertyn is supposed by Warton to be the celebrated Gilbertus Anglicus. The names of Hippocrates and Galen were, in the middle ages, always (or nearly always) spelt Ypocras and Galienus.’—Wright. Cf. C. 306. Æsculapius, god of medicine, was fabled to be the son of Apollo. Dioscorides was a Greek physician of the second century. See the long note in Warton, 1871, ii. 368; and the account in Saunders’ Edition: current; Page: [42] Chaucer (1889), p. 115. I may note here, that Haly wrote a commentary on Galen, and is mentioned in Skelton’s Philip Sparowe, l. 505. There were three Serapions; the one here meant was probably John Serapion, in the eleventh century. Averroes wrote a commentary on the works of Aristotle, and died about 1198. Constantinus is the same as ‘the cursed monk Dan Constantyn,’ mentioned in the Marchaunt’s Tale, E. 1810. John Gatisden was a fellow of Merton College, and ‘was court-doctor under Edw. II. He wrote a treatise on medicine called Rosa Anglica’; J. Jusserand, Eng. Wayfaring Life, (1889), p. 180. Cf. Book of the Duchess, 572. Dante, Inf. iv. 143, mentions ‘Ippocrate, Avicenna, e Gallieno, Averrois,’ &c.

‘Par Hipocras, ne Galien, . . .

Rasis, Constantin, Avicenne’;

Rom. de la Rose, 16161.

See Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii. 393.

439. ‘In cloth of a blood-red colour and of a blueish-grey.’ Cf. ‘robes de pers,’ Rom. de la Rose, 9116. In the Testament of Creseide, ed. 1550, st. 36, we find:—

442.wan in pestilence, acquired during the pestilence. This is an allusion to the great pestilence of the years 1348, 1349; or to the later pestilences in 1362, 1369, and 1376.

443.For=because, seeing that. It was supposed that aurum potabile was a sovereign remedy in some cases. The actual reference is, probably, to Les Remonstrances de Nature, by Jean de Meun, ll. 979, 980, &c.; ‘C’est le fin et bon or potable, L’humide radical notable; C’est souveraine medecine’; and the author goes on to refer us to Ecclus. xxxviii. 4—‘The Lord hath created medicines out of the earth; and he that is wise will not abhor them.’ Hence the Doctor would not abhor gold. And further—‘C’est medecine cordiale’; ib. 1029. To return to aurum potabile: I may observe that it is mentioned in the play called Humour out of Breath, Act i. sc. 1; and there is a footnote to the effect that this was the ‘Universal Medicine of the alchemists, prepared from gold, mercury, &c. The full receipt will be found in the Fifth and last Part of the Last Testament of Friar Basilius Valentinus, London, 1670, pp. 371–7.’ See also Thomson’s Hist. of Chemistry, vol. i. p. 164; Burton’s Anat. of Melancholy, pt. 2. sec. 4. mem. 1. subsec. 4.

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The Wyf of Bathe.

445.of bisyde, &c., from (a place) near Bath, i.e. from a place in its suburbs; for elsewhere she is simply called the Wyf of Bathe.

446. ‘But she was somewhat deaf, and that was her misfortune.’ We should now say—‘and it was a pity.’

447.clooth-making. ‘The West of England, and especially the neighbourhood of Bath, from which the “good wif” came, was celebrated, till a comparatively recent period, as the district of cloth-making. Ypres and Ghent were the great clothing-marts on the Continent.’—Wright. ‘Edward the third brought clothing first into this Island, transporting some families of artificers from Gaunt hither.’—Burton’s Anat. of Mel. p. 51. ‘Cloth of Gaunt’ is mentioned in the Romaunt of the Rose, l. 574 (vol. i. p. 117).

haunt, use, practice; i.e. she was so well skilled (in it).

448.passed, i.e. surpassed.

450.to the offring. In the description of the missal-rites, Rock shews how the bishop (or officiating priest) ‘took from the people’s selves their offerings of bread and wine. . . The men first and then the women, came with their cake and cruse of wine.’ So that, instead of money being collected, as now, the people went up in order with their offerings; and questions of precedence of course arose. The Wife insisted on going up first among the women. See Rock, Church of our Fathers, iii. 2. 33, 149.

453.coverchief (keverchef, or kerchere, kerché). The kerchief, or covering for the head, was, until the fourteenth century, almost an indispensable portion of female attire. See B. 837; Leg. of Good Women, l. 2202.

ful fyne of ground, of a very fine texture. See Pierce the Ploughman’s Crede, l. 230, which means ‘it was of fine enough texture to take dye in grain.’

454.ten pound. Of course this is a playful exaggeration; but Tyrwhitt was not justified in altering ten pound into a pound; for a pound-weight, in a head-dress of that period, was a mere nothing, as will be readily understood by observing the huge structures represented in Fairholt’s Costume, figs. 125, 129, 130, 151, which were often further weighted with ornaments of gold. Skelton goes so far as to describe Elinour Rummyng (l. 72)—

moiste, soft—not ‘as hard as old boots.’ So, in H. 60, moysty ale is new ale.

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460.chirche-dore. The priest married the couple at the church-porch, and immediately afterwards proceeded to the altar to celebrate mass, at which the newly-married persons communicated. As Todd remarks—‘The custom was, that the parties did not enter the church till that part of the office, where the minister now goes up to the altar [or rather, is directed to go up], and repeats the psalm.’ See Warton, Hist. Eng. Poet. 1871, ii. 366, note 1; Anglia, vi. 106; Rock, Church of our Fathers, iii. pt. 2. 172; Brand’s Antiquities, ed. Ellis, ii. 134. And see D. 6.

461.Withouten = besides. other companye, other lovers. This expression (copied from Le Rom. de la Rose, l. 12985—‘autre companie’) makes it quite certain that the character of the Wife of Bath is copied, in some respects, from that of La Vieille in the Roman de la Rose, as further appears in the Wife’s Prologue.

462.as nouthe, as now, i.e. at present. The form nouthe is not uncommon; it occurs in P. Plowman, Allit. Poems, Sir Gawain and the Grene Knight, &c. A. S. nū ðā, now then.

465.Boloigne. Cf. ‘I will have you swear by our dear Lady of Boulogne’; Gammer Gurton’s Needle, Act 2, sc. 2. An image of the virgin, at Boulogne, was sought by pilgrims. See Heylin’s Survey of France, p. 163, ed. 1656 (quoted in the above, ed. Hazlitt).

466.In Galice (Galicia), at the shrine of St. James of Compostella, a famous resort of pilgrims in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. As the legend goes, the body of St. James the Apostle was supposed to have been carried in a ship without a rudder to Galicia, and preserved at Compostella. See Piers Plowman, A. iv. 106, 110, and note to B. Prol. 47; also Eng. Gilds, ed. Toulmin Smith, pp. 172, 177.

Coloigne. At Cologne, where the bones of the Three Kings or Wise Men of the East, Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar, are said to be preserved. See Coryat’s Crudities; Chambers, Book of Days, ii. 751.

467. ‘She knew much about travelling.’

468.Gat-tothed = gat-toothed, meaning gap-toothed, having teeth wide apart or separated from one another. A gat is an opening, and is allied to E. gate. The Friesic gat, Dan., Du., and Icel. gat, and Norweg. gat, all mean a hole, or a gap. Very similar is the use of the Shropshire glat, a gap in a hedge, also a gap in the mouth caused by loss of teeth. Example: ‘Dick, yo’ bin a flirt; I thought yo’ wun (were) gwein to marry the cook at the paas’n’s. Aye, but ’er’d gotten too many glats i’ the mouth for me’; Miss Jackson’s Shropshire Wordbook. ‘Famine—the gap-toothed elf’; Golding’s Ovid, b. 8; leaf 105. It occurs again, D. 603. [Gat-toothed has also been explained as goat-toothed, lascivious, but the word goat appears as goot in Chaucer.] Perhaps the following piece of ‘folk-lore’ will help us out. ‘A young lady the other day, in reply to an observation of mine—“What a lucky girl you are!”—replied; “So they used to say I should be when at school.” “Why?” “Because my teeth were set so far apart; it was a sure sign I should be lucky and travel.” ’—Notes & Queries 1 Ser. Edition: current; Page: [45] vi. 601; cf. the same, 7 Ser. vii. 306. The last quotation shews that the stop after weye at the end of l. 467 should be a mere semicolon; since ll. 467 and 468 are closely connected.

469.amblere, an ambling horse.

470.Y-wimpled, covered with a wimple; see l. 151.

471.targe, target, shield.

472.foot-mantel. Tyrwhitt supposes this to be a sort of riding-petticoat, such as is now used by market-women. It is clearly shewn, as a blue outer skirt, in the drawing in the Ellesmere MS. At a later time it was called a safe-guard (see Nares), and its use was to keep the gown clean. It may be added that, in the Ellesmere MS., the Wife is represented as riding astride. Hence she wanted ‘a pair of spurs.’

474.carpe, prate, discourse; Icel. karpa, to brag. The present sense of carp seems to be due to Lat. carpere.

475.remedyes. An allusion to the title and subject of Ovid’s book, Remedia Amoris.

The Persoun.

478.Persoun of a toun, the parson or parish priest. Chaucer, in his description of the parson, contrasts the piety and industry of the secular clergy with the wickedness and laziness of the religious orders or monks. See Dryden’s ‘Character of a Good Parson,’ and Goldsmith’s ‘Deserted Village’; also Wyclif, ed. Matthew, p. 179.

486. ‘He was very loath to excommunicate those who failed to pay the tithes that were due to him.’ ‘Refusal to pay tithes was punishable with the lesser excommunication’; Bell. Wyclif complains of ‘weiward curatis’ that ‘sclaundren here parischenys many weies by ensaumple of pride, enuye, coueitise and vnresonable vengaunce, so cruely cursynge for tithes’; Works, ed. Matthew, p. 144 (cf. p. 132).

498. The allusion is to Matt. v. 19, as shewn by a parallel passage in P. Plowman, C. xvi. 127.

502.lewed, unlearned, ignorant. Lewed or lewd originally signified the people, laity, as opposed to the clergy; the modern sense of the word is not common in Middle English. Cf. mod. E. lewd, in Acts xvii. 5. See Lewd in Trench, Select Glossary.

503–4.if a preest tak-e keep, if a priest may (i. e. will) but pay heed to it. St. John Chrysostom also saith, ‘It is a great shame for priests, when laymen be found faithfuller and more righteous than they.’—Becon’s Invective against Swearing, p. 336.

507.to hyre. The parson did not leave his parish duties to be performed by a stranger, that he might have leisure to seek a chantry in St. Paul’s. See Piers Plowman, B-text, Prol. l. 83; Hoccleve, De Regimine Principum, ed. Wright, pp. 51, 52; Spenser, Shep. Kalendar (May).

508.And leet, and left (not). We should now say—‘Nor left.’ So also, in l. 509, And ran = Nor ran. Leet is the pt. t. of leten, to let alone, let go.

509. Here again, së-ynt is used as if it were dissyllabic; see ll. 120, 697.

510.chaunterie, chantry; an endowment for the payment of a priest to sing mass, agreeably to the appointment of the founder. ‘There were thirty-five of these chantries established at St. Paul’s, which were served by fifty-four priests; Dugd. Hist. pref. p. 41.’—Tyrwhitt’s Glossary. On the difference between a gild and a chantry, see the instructive remarks in Eng. Gilds, ed. Toulmin Smith, pp. 205–207, 259.

511. ‘Or to be kept (i. e. remain) in retirement along with some fraternity.’ I do not see how with-holde can mean ‘maintained,’ as it is usually explained. Cf. dwelte in l. 512, and with-holde in G. 345.

514.no mercenarie, no hireling; see John x. 12, where the Vulgate version has mercenarius.

516.despitous, full of despite, or contempt; cf. E. spite.

517.daungerous, not affable, difficult to approach. Cf. Rom. of the Rose, l. 591:—‘Ne of hir answer daungerous’; where the original has desdaigneuse. digne, full of dignity; hence, repellent. ‘She was as digne as water in a dich,’ A. 3964; because stagnant water keeps people at a distance.

519.fairnesse, i. e. by leading a fair or good life. The Harleian MS. has clennesse, that is, a life of purity.

523.snibben, reprimand; cf. Dan. snibbe, to rebuke, scold; mod. E. snub. In Wyclif’s translation of Matt. xviii. 15, the earlier version has snybbe as a synonym for reprove.

nones; see l. 379, and the note.

525.wayted after, looked for. See line 571.

526.spyced conscience; so also in D. 435. Spiced here seems to signify, says Tyrwhitt, nice, scrupulous; for a reason which is given Edition: current; Page: [47] below. It occurs in the Mad Lover, act iii. sc. 1, by Beaumont and Fletcher. When Cleanthe offers a purse, the priestess says—

The origin of the phrase is French. The name of espices (spices) was given to the fees or dues which were payable (in advance) to judges. A ‘spiced’ judge, who would have a ‘spiced’ conscience, was scrupulous and exact, because he had been prepaid, and was inaccessible to any but large bribes. See Cotgrave, s. v. espices; Littré, s. v. épice; and, in particular, Les Œuvres de Guillaume Coquillart, ed. P. Tarbé, t. i. p. 31, and t. ii. p. 114. (First explained by me in a letter to The Athenaeum, Nov. 26, 1892, p. 741.)

527. ‘But the teaching of Christ and his twelve apostles, that taught he.’

528. Cf. Acts, i. 1; Gower, Conf. Amant. ii. 188.

The Plowman.

529.Plowman; not a hind or farm-labourer, but a poor farmer, who himself held the plough; cf. note to P. Plowman, C. viii. 182. was, who was.

530.y-lad, carried, lit. led. Cf. prov. E. lead, to cart (corn).

531.swinker, toiler, workman; see l. 186. Cf. swink, toil, in l. 540.

534.though him gamed or smerte, though it was pleasant or unpleasant to him.

The Miller.

545.carl, fellow; Icel. karl, cognate with A. S. ceorl, a churl. See A. 3469; also A. 1423–4. This description of the Miller should be compared with that in A. 3925–3940.

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547. ‘That well proved (to be true); for everywhere, where he came.’

548.the ram. This was the usual prize at wrestling-matches. Tyrwhitt says—‘Matthew Paris mentions a wrestling match at Westminster, ad 1222, at which a ram was the prize.’ Cf. Sir Topas, B. 1931; Tale of Gamelyn, 172, 280.

549.a thikke knarre, a thickly knotted (fellow), i. e. a muscular fellow. Cf. M. E. knor, Mid. Du. knorre, a knot in wood; and E. gnarled. It is worth notice that, in ll. 549–557, there is no word of French origin, except tuft.

550.of harre, off its hinges, lit. hinge. ‘I horle at the notes, and heve hem al of herre’; Poem on Singing, in Reliq. Antiquae, ii. 292. Gower has out of herre, off its hinges, out of use, out of joint; Conf. Amant. bk. ii. ed. Pauli, i. 259; bk. iii. i. 318. Skelton has:—‘All is out of harre,’ Magnificence, l. 921. From A.S. heorr, a hinge.

553. Todd cites from Lilly’s Midas—‘How, sir, will you be trimmed? Will you have a bread like a spade or a bodkin?’—Illust. of Gower, p. 258.

554.cop, top; A. S. copp, a top; cf. G. Kopj.

557.nose-thirles, lit. nose-holes; mod. E. nostrils.

559.forneys. ‘Why, asks Mr. Earle, should Chaucer so readily fall on the simile of a furnace? What, in the uses of the time, made it come so ready to hand? The weald of Kent was then, like our “black country” now, a great smelting district, its wood answering to our coal; and Chaucer was Knight of the Shire, or M.P. for Kent.’—Temporary Preface to the Six-text edition of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, p. 99.

560.Ianglere, loud talker.

goliardeys, a ribald jester, one who gained his living by following rich men’s tables, and telling tales and making sport for the guests. Tyrwhitt says, ‘This jovial sect seems to have been so called from Golias, the real or assumed name of a man of wit, towards the end of the twelfth century, who wrote the Apocalypsis Goliæ, and other pieces in burlesque Latin rhymes, some which have been falsely [?] attributed to Walter Map.’ But it would appear that Golias is the sole invention of Walter Map, the probable author of the ‘Golias’ poems. See Morley’s Eng. Writers, 1888, iii. 167, where we read that the Apocalypse of Golias and the confession of Golias ‘have by constant tradition been ascribed to him [Walter Map]; never to any other writer.’ Golias is a medieval spelling of the Goliath of scripture, and occurs in Chaucer, Man of Lawes Tale, B. 934. In several authors of the thirteenth century, quoted by Du Cange, the goliardi are classed with the joculatores et buffones, and it is very likely that the word goliardus was, originally, quite independent of Golias, which was only connected with it by way of jest. The word goliardus seems rather to have meant, originally, ‘glutton,’ and to be connected with gula, the throat; but it was quite a common term, in the thirteenth century, for certain men of some education but of bad repute, who composed or recited satirical Edition: current; Page: [49] parodies and coarse verses and epigrams for the amusement of the rich. See T. Wright’s Introduction to the poems of Walter Map (Camden Soc.); P. Plowman, ed. Skeat, note to B. prol. 139; Wright’s History of Caricature, ch. x; and the account in Godefroy’s O. French Dict., s. v. Goliard.

562. ‘Besides the usual payment in money for grinding corn, millers are always allowed what is called “toll,” amounting to 4 lbs. out of every sack of flour.’—Bell. But it can hardly be doubted that, in old times, the toll was wholly in corn, not in money at all. It amounted, in fact, to the twentieth or twenty-fourth part of the corn ground, according to the strength of the water-course; see Strutt, Manners and Customs, ii. 82, and Nares, s. v. Toll-dish. At Berwick, the miller’s share was reckoned as ‘the thirteenth part for grain, and the twenty-fourth part for malt.’ Eng. Gilds, p. 342. When the miller ‘tolled thrice,’ he took thrice the legal allowance. Cf. A. 3939, 3940.

563.a thombe of gold. An explanation of this proverb is given on the authority of Mr. Constable, the Royal Academician, by Mr. Yarrell in his History of British Fishes, who, when speaking of the Bullhead or Miller’s Thumb, explains that a miller’s thumb acquires a peculiar shape by continually feeling samples of corn whilst it is being ground; and that such a thumb is called golden, with reference to the profit that is the reward of the experienced miller’s skill.

‘When millers toll not with a golden thumbe.’

Gascoigne’s Steel Glass, l. 1080.

Ray’s Proverbs give us—‘An honest miller has a golden thumb’; ed. 1768, p. 136; taken satirically, this means that there are no honest millers. Brand, in his Pop. Antiquities, ed. Ellis, iii. 387, quotes from an old play—‘Oh the mooter dish, the miller’s Thumbe!’

The simplest explanation is to take the words just as they stand, i.e. ‘he used to steal corn, and take his toll thrice; yet he had a golden thumb such as all honest millers are said to have.’

565. W. Thorpe, when examined by Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, in 1407, complains of the pilgrims, saying—‘they will ordain to have with them both men and women that can well sing wanton songs; and some other pilgrims will have with them bagpipes; so that every town that they come through, what with the noise of their singing, and with the sound of their piping, and with the jangling of their Canterbury bells, and with the barking out of dogs after them, they make more noise than if the king came there away, with all his clarions and many other minstrels.’—Arber’s Eng. Garner, vi. 84; Wordsworth, Eccl. Biography, 4th ed. i. 312; Cutts, Scenes and Characters, p. 179.

566. ‘And with its music he conducted us out of London.’

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The Maunciple.

567.Maunciple or manciple, an officer who had the care of purchasing provisions for a college, an inn of court, &c. (Still in use.) See A. 3993. A temple is here ‘an inn of court’; besides the Inner and Middle Temple (in London), there was also an Outer Temple; see Timbs, Curiosities of London, p. 461; and the account of the Temple in Stow’s Survey of London.

The buyer who took by tally had the price scored on a pair of sticks; the seller gave him one of them, and retained the other himself. ‘Lordis . . . taken pore mennus goodis and paien not therfore but white stickis . . . and sumtyme beten hem whanne thei axen here peye’; Wyclif’s Works, ed. Matthew, p. 233 (see note at p. 519).

615.stot, probably what we should now call a cob. Prof. J. E. T. Rogers, in his Hist. of Agriculture, i. 36, supposes that a stot was a low-bred undersized stallion. It frequently occurs with the sense of ‘bullock’; see note to P. Plowman, C. xxii. 267.

Scot. ‘The name given to the horse of the reeve (who lived at Bawdeswell, in Norfolk) is a curious instance of Chaucer’s accuracy; for to this day there is scarcely a farm in Norfolk or Suffolk, in which one of the horses is not called Scot’; Bell’s Chaucer. Cf. G. 1543.

617.pers. Some MSS. read blew. See note on l. 439.

621.Tukked aboute, with his long coat tucked up round him by help of a girdle. In the pictures in the Ellesmere MS., both the reeve and the friar have girdles, and rather long coats; cf. D. 1737. ‘He (i.e. a friar) wore a graie cote well tucked vnder his corded girdle, with a paire of trime white hose’; W. Bullein, A Dialogue against the Feuer (E. E. T. S.), p. 68. See Tuck in Skeat, Etym. Dict.

The Somnour.

623.Somnour, summoner; an officer employed to summon delinquents to appear in ecclesiastical courts; now called an apparitor. ‘The ecclesiastical courts . . . determined all causes matrimonial and testamentary. . . . They had besides to enforce the payment of tithes Edition: current; Page: [52] and church dues, and were charged with disciplinary power for punishment of adultery, fornication, perjury, and other vices which did not come under the common law. The reputation of the summoner is enough to show how abuses pervaded the action of these courts. Prof. Stubbs has summed up the case concerning them in his Constitutional History, iii. 373.’—Wyclif’s Works, ed. Matthew, note at p. 514. For further information as to the summoner’s character, see the Frere’s Tale, D. 1299–1374.

624.cherubinnes face. H. Stephens, Apologie for Herodotus, i. c. 30, quotes the same thought from a French epigram—‘Nos grands docteurs au cherubin visage.’—T. Observe that cherubin (put for cherubim) is a plural form. ‘As the pl. was popularly much better known than the singular (e.g. in the Te Deum), the Romanic forms were all fashioned on cherubin, viz. Ital. cherubino, Span. querubin, Port. querubin, cherubin, F. cherubin’; New English Dictionary. Cherubs were generally painted red, a fact which became proverbial, as here. Cotgrave has: ‘Rouge comme un cherubin, red-faced, cherubin-faced, having a fierie facies like a Cherubin.’ Mrs. Jameson, in her Sacred and Legendary Art, has unluckily made the cherubim blue, and the seraphim red; the contrary was the accepted rule.

625.sawcefleem or sawsfleem, having a red pimpled face; lit. afflicted with pimples, &c., supposed to be caused by too much salt phlegm (salsum phlegma) in the constitution. The four humours of the blood, and the four consequent temperaments, are constantly referred to in various ways by early writers—by Chaucer as much as by any. Tyrwhitt quotes from an O. French book on physic (in MS. Bodley 761)—‘Oignement magistrel pur sausefleme et pur chescune manere de roigne,’ where roigne signifies any scorbutic eruption. ‘So (he adds) in the Thousand Notable Things, B. i. 70—“A sawsfleame or red pimpled face is helped with this medicine following:”—two of the ingredients are quicksilver and brimstone. In another place, B. ii. 20, oyle of tartar is said “to take away cleane all spots, freckles, and filthy wheales.” ’ He also quotes, in his Glossary, from MS. Bodley 2463—‘unguentum contra salsum flegma, scabiem, &c.’ Flewme in the Prompt. Parv. answers to Lat. phlegma. See the long note by J. Addis in N. and Q. 4 S. iv. 64; Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 169, l. 777. ‘The Greke word that he vsed was ἐξανθήματα, that is, little pimples or pushes, soche as, of cholere and salse flegme, budden out in the noses and faces of many persones, and are called the Saphires and Rubies of the Tauerne.’—Udall, tr. of Erasmus’ Apophthegmes, Diogenes, § 6: [printed false flegme in ed. 1877.] See l. 420.

ceruce, ceruse, a cosmetic made from white lead; see New E. Dict. oille of tartre, cream of tartar; potassium bitartrate.

632. Cf. ‘Such whelkes [on the head] haue small hoales, out of the which matter commeth. . . . And this euill commeth of vicious and gleymie [viscous] humour, which commeth to the skin of their head, and breedeth therein pimples and whelks.’—Batman on Bartholomè, lib. 7. c. 3. In the same, lib. 7. c. 67, we read that ‘A sauce flume face is a priuye signe of leprosie.’ Cf. Shak. Hen. V. iii. 6. 108.

643.Can clepen Watte, i.e. can call Walter (Wat) by his name; just as parrots are taught to say ‘Poll.’ In Political Songs, ed. Wright, p. 328, an ignorant priest is likened to a jay in a cage, to which is added: ‘Go[o]d Engelish he speketh, ac [but] he wot nevere what’; referring to the time when Anglo-French was the mother-tongue of many who became priests.

644. ‘But if any one could test him in any other point.’

646.Questio quid iuris. ‘This kind of question occurs frequently in Ralph de Hengham. After having stated a case, he adds, quid juris, and then proceeds to give an answer to it.’—T. It means—‘the question is, what law (is there)?’ i.e. what is the law on this point?

647.harlot, fellow, usually one of low conduct; but originally merely a young person, without implication of reproach. See D. 1754.

649. ‘For a bribe of a quart of wine, he would allow a boon companion of his to lead a vicious life for a whole year, and entirely excuse him; moreover (on the other hand) he knew very well how to pluck a finch,’ i.e. how to get all the feathers off any inexperienced person whom it was worth his while to cheat. Cf. ‘a pulled hen’ in l. 177. With reference to the treatment of the poor by usurers, &c., we read in the Rom. of the Rose, l. 6820, that ‘Withoute scalding they hem pulle,’ i.e. pluck them. And see Troil. i. 210.

654–7. ‘He would teach his friend in such a case (i.e. if his friend led an evil life) to stand in no awe of the archdeacon’s curse (excommunication), unless he supposed that his soul resided in his purse; for in his purse [not in his soul] he should be punished’ (i.e. by paying a good round sum he could release himself from the archdeacon’s curse). ‘Your purse (said he) is the hell to which the archdeacon really refers when he threatens you.’ See, particularly, Wyclif’s Works, ed. Matthew, pp. 35, 62, 496.

661.assoilling, absolution; from the vb. assoil.

662.war him of, i.e. let him beware of; war is the pres. subj.

significavit, i.e. of a writ de excommunicato capiendo [or excommunication] which usually began, ‘Significavit nobis venerabilis frater,’ &c.—T. See Significavit in Cowel or Blount.

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663.In daunger, within his jurisdiction, within the reach or control of his office; the true sense of M. E. daunger is ‘control’ or ‘dominion.’ Thus, in the Romaunt of the Rose, l. 1470, we find:—

‘Narcisus was a bachelere,

That Love had caught in his daungere.’

i.e. whom Love had got into his power. So also in l. 1049 of the same.

664.yonge girles, young people, of either sex. In the Coventry Mysteries, p. 181, there is mention of ‘knave gerlys,’ i.e. male children. And see gerles in the Gloss. to P. Plowman, and the note to the same, C. ii. 29.

665.and was al hir reed, and was wholly their adviser.

666, 667.gerland. A garland for an ale-stake was distinct from a bush. The latter was made of ivy-leaves; and every tavern had an ivy-bush hanging in front as its sign; hence the phrase, ‘Good wine needs no bush,’ &c. But the garland, often used in addition to the bush, was made of three equal hoops, at right angles to each other, and decorated with ribands. It was also called a hoop. The sompnour wore only a single hoop or circlet, adorned with large flowers (apparently roses), according to his picture in the Ellesmere MS. Emelye, in the Knightes Tale, is described as gathering white and red flowers to make ‘a sotil gerland’ for her head; A. 1054. ‘Garlands of flowers were often worn on festivals, especially in ecclesiastical processions’; Rock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 72. Some garlands, worn on the head, were made of metal; see Riley, Memorials of London, p. 133.

667.ale-stake, a support for a garland in front of an ale-house. For a picture of an ale-stake with a garland, see Hotten’s Book of Signboards. The position of it was such that it did not stand upright, but projected horizontally from the side of a tavern at some height from the ground, as shewn in Larwood and Hotten’s Book of Signboards. Hence the enactments made, that it should never extend above the roadway for more than seven feet; see Liber Albus, ed. H. T. Riley, 1861, pp. 292, 389. Speght wrongly explained ale-stake as ‘a Maypole,’ and has misled many others, including Chatterton, who thus was led to write the absurd line—‘Around the ale-stake minstrels sing the song’; Ælla, st. 30. ‘At the ale-stake’ is correct; see C. 321.

The Pardoner.

669. As to the character of the Pardoner, see further in the Pardoner’s Prologue, C. 329–462; P. Plowman, B. prol. 68–82; Heywood’s Interlude of the Four Ps, which includes a shameless plagiarism from Chaucer’s Pardoner’s Prologue; and Sir David Lyndesay’s Satire of the Three Estaits, l. 2037. Cf. note to C. 349. See also the Essay on Chaucer’s Pardoner and the Pope’s Pardoners, by Dr. J. Jusserand, in the Essays on Chaucer (Chaucer Society), p. 423; and the Chapter on Edition: current; Page: [55] Pardoners in Jusserand’s English Wayfaring Life. Jusserand shews that Chaucer has not in the least exaggerated; for exaggeration was not possible.

670.Of Rouncival. Of course the Pardoner was an Englishman, so that he could hardly belong to Roncevaux, in Navarre. The reference is clearly to the hospital of the Blessed Mary of Rouncyvalle, in the parish of St. Martin in the Fields, at Charing (London), mentioned in Dugdale’s Monasticon, ii. 443. Stow gives its date of foundation as the 15th year of Edward IV., but this was only a revival of it, after it had been suppressed by Henry V. It was a ‘cell’ to the Priory of Roncevaux in Navarre. See Todd’s Illustrations of Gower, p. 263: and Rouncival in Nares. Cf. note to l. 172.

672.Com hider, love, to me. ‘This, I suppose, was the beginning or the burthen of some known song.’—Tyrwhitt. It is quoted again in l. 763 of the poem called ‘The Pearl,’ in the form—‘Come hyder to me, my lemman swete.’ hider, hither.

The rime of tó me with Róme should be particularly noted, as it enables even the reader who is least skilled in English phonology to perceive that Ro-me was really dissyllabic, and that the final e in such words was really pronounced. Similarly, in Octouian Imperator, ed. Weber, l. 1887, we find seint Ja-mè, riming with frá me (from me). Perhaps the most amusing example of editorial incompetence is seen in the frequent occurrence of the mysterious word byme in Pauli’s edition of Gower; as, e.g. in bk. iii. vol. i. p. 370:—

‘So woll I nought, that any time

Be lost, of that thou hast do byme.’

Of course, by me should have been printed as two words, riming with ti-mè. This is what happens when grammatical facts are ignored. Time is dissyllabic, because it represents the A.S. tīma, which is never reduced to a monosyllable in A.S.

680.for Iolitee, for greater comfort. He thought it pleasanter to wear only a cap (l. 683). wered, wore; see l. 75. Cf. G. 571, and the note.

682.the newe Iet, the new fashion, which is described in ll. 680–683.

‘Also, there is another newe gette,

A foule waste of clothe and excessyfe,

There goth no lesse in a mannes typette

Than of brode cloth a yerde, by my lyfe.’

Hoccleve, De Regim. Principum, p. 17.

‘Newe Iette, guise nouelle’; Palsgrave.

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683.Dischevele, with his hair hanging loose.

685.vernicle, a small copy of the ‘vernicle’ at Rome. Vernicle is ‘a diminutive of Veronike (Veronica), a copy in miniature of the picture of Christ, which is supposed to have been miraculously imprinted upon a handkerchief preserved in the church of St. Peter at Rome. . . It was usual for persons returning from pilgrimages to bring with them certain tokens of the several places which they had visited; and therefore the Pardoner, who is just arrived from Rome, is represented with a vernicle sowed on his cappe.’—Tyrwhitt. See the description of a pilgrim in Piers Plowman, ed. Skeat, B. v. 530, and the note. The legend was invented to explain the name. First the name of Bernice, taken from the Acts, was assigned to the woman who was cured by Christ of an issue of blood. Next, Bernice, otherwise Veronica, was (wrongly) explained as meaning vera icon (i. e. true likeness), which was assigned as the name of a handkerchief on which the features of Christ were miraculously impressed. Copies of this portrait were called Veronicae or Veroniculae, in English vernicles, and were obtainable by pilgrims to Rome. There was also a later St. Veronica, who died in 1497, after Chaucer’s time, and whose day is Jan. 13.

See Legends of the Holy Rood, ed. Morris, pp. 170, 171; Mrs. Jameson’s Sacred and Legendary Art, ii. 269; Lady Eastlake’s History of our Lord, i. 41; Rock, Church of our Fathers, iii. pt. i. p. 438; and the picture of the vernicle in Chambers, Book of Days, i. 101.

687.Bret-ful of pardon, brim-full (top-full, full to the top) of indulgences. Cf. Swed. bräddfull, brimful; from brädd, a brim. See A. 2164; Ho. of Fame, 2123.

692.fro Berwik, from Berwick to Ware (in Hertfordshire), from North to South of England. See the similar phrase—‘From Barwick to Dover, three hundred miles over’—in Pegge’s Kenticisms (E.D.S.), p. 70.

694.male, bag; cf. E. mail-bag.

pilwebeer, pillow-case. Cf. Low. G. büren, a case (for a pillow), Icel. ver, Dan. vaar, a cover for a pillow. The form pillow-bear occurs as a Cheshire word as late as 1782; N. and Q. 6 S. xii. 217.

696.gobet, a small portion; O. F. gobet, a morsel; gober, to devour.

698.hente, caught hold of; from A. S. hentan, to seize.

699. ‘A cross made of latoun, set full of (probably counterfeit) precious stones.’ Latoun was a mixed metal, of the same colour as, and closely resembling, the modern metal called pinchbeck, from the name of the inventor. It was chiefly composed of copper and zinc. See further in the note to C. 350; and cf. F. 1245.

701. Cf. Wyclif’s Works, ed. Matthew, p. 154; and the note to C. 349.

702.up-on lond, in the country. Country people used to be called uplondish men. Jack Upland is the name of a satire against the friars.

705, 706.Iapes, deceits, tricks. his apes, his dupes; cf. A. 3389.

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710.alder-best, best of all; alder is a later form of aller, from A.S. ealra, of all, gen. pl. of eal, all. See ll. 586, 823.

Chaucer’s Apology.

716.Thestat, tharray = the estate, the array: the coalescence of the article with the noun is very common in Middle English.

719.highte, was named; cf. A. S. hātan, (1) to call, (2) to be called, to be named (with a passive sense).

721. ‘How we conducted ourselves that same night.’

726. ‘That ye ascribe it not to my ill-breeding.’ narette, for ne arette. From O.F. aretter, to ascribe, impute; from Lat. ad and reputare; see Aret in the New E. Dict. Also spelt arate, with the sense ‘to chide’; whence mod. E. to rate. So here the poet implies—‘do not rate me for my ill-breeding.’ The argument here used is derived from Le Roman de la Rose, 15361–96.

727.pleynly speke (Elles. &c.); speke al pleyn (Harl.).

731.shal telle, has to tell. after, according to, just like.

734.Al speke he, although he speak. See al have I, l. 744.

738. ‘He is bound to say one word as much as another.’

741, 742. This saying of Plato is taken from Boethius, De Consolatione, bk. iii. pr. 12, which Chaucer translates: ‘Thou hast lerned by the sentence of Plato, that nedes the wordes moten be cosines to the thinges of which they speken’; see vol. ii. p. 90, l. 151. In Le Roman de la Rose, 7131, Jean de Meun says that Plato tells us, speech was given us to express our wishes and thoughts, and proceeds to argue that men ought to use coarse language. Chaucer was thinking of this singular argument. We also find in Le Roman (l. 15392) an exactly parallel passage, which means in English, ‘the saying ought to resemble the deed; for the words, being neighbours to the things, ought to be cousins to their deeds.’ In the original French, these passages stand thus:—

‘Car Platon disoit en s’escole

Que donnee nous fu parole

Por faire nos voloirs entendre,

Por enseignier et por aprendre’; &c.

‘Li dis doit le fait resembler;

Car les vois as choses voisines

Doivent estre a lor faiz cousines.’

So also in the Manciple’s Tale, H. 208.

744. ‘Although I have not,’ &c. Cf. l. 734.

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The Host.

747.Our hoste. It has been remarked that from this character Shakespeare’s ‘mine host of the Garter’ in the Merry Wives of Windsor is obviously derived.

752. The duty of the ‘marshal of the hall’ was to place every one according to his rank at public festivals, and to preserve order. See Babees Book, p. 310. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. v. 9. 23; Gower, Conf. Amant. iii. 299. Even Milton speaks of a ‘marshall’d feast’; P. L. ix. 37.

753.stepe, bright; see note to l. 201.

754.Chepe, i. e. Cheapside, in London.

760.maad our rekeninges, i. e. paid our scores.

764.I saught nat (Elles. &c.); I ne saugh (Harl.). To scan the line, read I n’ saugh, dropping the e in ne. The insertion of ne is essential to the sense, viz. ‘I have not seen.’

765.herberwe, inn, lit. harbour. The F. auberge is from the O.H.G. form of the same word.

770. ‘May the blessed martyr duly reward you!’

772.shapen yow, intend; cf. l. 809. talen, to tell tales.

777.yow lyketh alle, it pleases you all; yow is in the dat. case, as in the mod. E. ‘if you please.’ See note to l. 37.

783. ‘Hold up your hands’; to signify assent.

785.to make it wys, to make it a matter of wisdom or deliberation; so also made it strange, made it a matter of difficulty, A. 3980.

791. ‘To shorten your way with.’ In M. E., the prep. with always comes next the verb in phrases of this character. Most MSS. read our for your here, but this is rather premature. The host introduces his proposal to accompany the pilgrims by the use of our in l. 799, and we in l. 801; the proposal itself comes in l. 803.

817.In heigh and lowe. ‘Lat. In, or de alto et basso, Fr. de haut en bas, were expressions of entire submission on one side, and sovereignty on the other.’—Tyrwhitt. Cotgrave (s. v. Bas) has:—‘Taillables haut et bas, taxable at the will and pleasure of their lord.’ It here means—‘under all circumstances.’

826.St. Thomas a Waterings was a place for watering horses, at a brook beside the second mile-stone on the road to St. Thomas’s shrine, i.e. to Canterbury. It was a place anciently used for executions in the county of Surrey, as Tyburn was in that of Middlesex. See Nares, s. v. Waterings.

828.if yow leste, if it may please you. The verb listen made liste in the past tense; but Chaucer changes the verb to the form lesten, pt. t. leste, probably for the sake of the rime. See ll. 750 and 102. In the Knightes Tale, A. 1052, as hir liste rimes with upriste.

The true explanation is, that the A. S. y had the sound of mod. G. ü. In Mid. Eng., this was variably treated, usually becoming either i or u; so that, e.g., the A. S. pyt (a pit) became M. E. pit or put, the former of which has survived. But, in Kentish, the form was pet; and it is remarkable that Chaucer sometimes deliberately adopts Kentish forms, as here, for the sake of the rime. A striking example is seen in fulfelle for fulfille, in Troil. iii. 510, to rime with telle. He usually has fulfille, as below, in A. 1318, 2478.

829.Ye woot, ye know. Really false grammar, as the pl. of woot (originally a past tense) is properly witen, just as the pl. of rood is riden in l. 825. As woot was used as a present tense, its original form was forgotten. ‘Ye know your agreement, and I recall it to your memory.’ See l. 33.

830. ‘If even-song and matins agree’; i.e. if you still say now what you said last night.

832. ‘As ever may I be able to drink’; i.e. As surely as I ever hope to be able, &c. Cf. B. 4490, &c.

833.be, may be (subjunctive mood).

835.draweth cut, draw lots; see C. 793–804. The Gloss. to Allan Ramsay’s poems, ed. 1721, has—‘cutts, lots. These cuts are usually made of straws unequally cut, which one hides between his finger and thumb, whilst another draws his fate’; but the verb to cut is unallied. See Brand, Pop. Antiq., iii. 337. The one who drew the shortest (or else the longest) straw was the one who drew the lot. Cf. ‘Sors, a kut, or a lotte’; Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 7. ‘After supper, we drew cuttes for a score of apricoks, the longest cut stil to draw an apricoke’; Marston, Induction to The Malcontent.

ferrer twinne, depart further. Here ferrer is the comp. of fer, far. Twinnen is to separate, part in twain; hence, to depart.

844.sort, lot, destiny; O. F. sort; cf. E. sort.

847.as was resoun, as was reasonable or right.

848.forward, agreement, as in l. 33. compositioun has almost exactly the same sense, but is of French origin.

853.shal biginne, have to begin.

854.What; used interjectionally, like the modern E. ‘why!’

a, in. Here a is for an, a form of on; the A. S. on is constantly used with the sense of ‘in.’

856.riden, rode; pt. pl. See l. 825.

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The Knightes Tale.

For general remarks on this tale, see vol. iii. p. 389.

It is only possible to give here a mere general idea of the way in which the Knightes Tale is related to the Teseide of Boccaccio. The following table gives a sketch of it, but includes many lines wherein Chaucer is quite original. The references to the Knightes Tale are to the lines of group A (as in the text); those to the Teseide are to the books and stanzas.

The MSS. quote a line and a half from Statius, Thebaid, xii. 519, 520, because Chaucer is referring to that passage in his introductory lines to this tale; see particularly ll. 866, 869, 870.

There is yet another reason for quoting this scrap of Latin, viz. that it is also quoted in the Poem of Anelida and Arcite, at l. 22, where the ‘Story’ of that poem begins; and ll. 22–25 of Anelida give a fairly close translation of it. From this and other indications, it appears that Chaucer first of all imitated Boccaccio’s Teseide (more or less closely) in the poem which he himself calls ‘Palamon and Arcite,’ of which but scanty traces exist in the original form; and this poem was in 7-line stanzas. He afterwards recast the whole, at the same time changing the metre; and the result was the Knightes Tale, as we here have it. Thus the Knightes Tale is not derived immediately from Boccaccio or from Statius, but through the medium of an older poem Edition: current; Page: [61] of Chaucer’s own composition. Fragments of the same poem were used by the author in other compositions; and the result is, that the Teseide of Boccaccio is the source of (1) sixteen stanzas in the Parliament of Foules; (2) of part of the first ten stanzas in Anelida; (3) of three stanzas near the end of Troilus (Tes. xi. 1-3); as well as of the original Palamon and Arcite and of the Knightes Tale.

Hence it is that ll. 859–874 and ll. 964–981 should be compared with Chaucer’s Anelida, ll. 22–46, as printed in vol. i. p. 366. Lines 882 and 972 are borrowed from that poem with but slight alteration.

859. The lines from Statius, Theb. xii. 519–22, to which reference is made in the heading, relate to the return of Theseus to Athens after his conquest of Hippolyta, and are as follows:—

Iamque domos patrias, Scythicae post aspera gentis

Proelia, laurigero subeuntem Thesea curru

Laetifici plausus, missusque ad sidera uulgi

Clamor, et emeritis hilaris tuba nuntiat armis.’

860.Theseus, the great legendary hero of Attica, is the subject of Boccaccio’s poem named after him the Teseide. He is also the hero of the Legend of Ariadne, as told in Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women. After deserting Ariadne, he succeeded his father Aegeus as king of Athens, and conducted an expedition against the Amazons, from which he returned in triumph, having carried off their queen Antiope, here named Hippolyta.

861.governour. It should be observed that Chaucer continually accents words of Anglo-French origin in the original manner, viz. on the last or on the penultimate syllable. Thus we have here governóur and conqueróur; in l. 865, chivalrý-e; in l. 869, contrée; in l. 876, manére, &c. The most remarkable examples are when the words end in -oun (ll. 893, 935).

864.cóntree is here accented on the first syllable; in l. 869, on the last. This is a good example of the unsettled state of the accents of such words in Chaucer’s time, which afforded him an opportunity of licence, which he freely uses. In fact, cóntree shows the English, and contrée, the French accent.

866.regne of Femenye, the kingdom (Lat. regnum) of the Amazons. Femenye is from Lat. femina, a woman. Cf. Statius, Theb. xii. 578. ‘Amazonia, womens land, is a Country, parte in Asia and parte in Europa, and is nigh Albania; and hath that name of Amazonia of women that were the wives of the men that were called Goths, the which men went out of the nether Scithia, as Isidore seith, li. 9.’—Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. xv. c. 12. Cf. Higden’s Polychronicon, lib. i. cap. xviii; and Gower, Conf. Amant., ii. 73:—

‘Pentasilee,

Which was the quene of Feminee.’

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867.Scithea, Scythia. Cf. Scythicae in the quotation from Statius in note to l. 859.

880. In this line, Athenes seems to mean ‘Athenians,’ though elsewhere it means ‘Athens.’ Athénès is trisyllabic.

884.tempest. As there is no mention of a tempest in Boccaccio, Tyrwhitt proposed to alter the reading to temple, as there is some mention of Theseus offering in the temple of Pallas. But it is very unlikely that this would be alluded to by the mere word temple; and we must accept the reading tempest, as in all the seven MSS. and in the old editions.

I think the solution is to be found by referring to Statius. Chaucer seems to have remembered that a tempest is there described (Theb. xii. 650–5), but to have forgotten that it is merely introduced by way of simile. In fact, when Theseus determines to attack Creon (see l. 960), the advance of his host is likened by Statius to the effect of a tempest. The lines are:—

‘Qualis Hyperboreos ubi nubilus institit axes

Iupiter, et prima tremefecit sidera bruma,

Rumpitur Aeolia, et longam indignata quietem

Tollit hiems animos, uentosaque sibilat Arctos;

Tunc montes undaeque fremunt, tunc proelia caesis

Nubibus, et tonitrus insanaque fulmina gaudent.’

885.as now, at present, at this time. Cf. the M.E. adverbs as-swithe, as-sone, immediately. From the Rom. de la Rose, 21479:—

‘Ne vous voil or ci plus tenir,

A mon propos m’estuet venir,

Qu’ autre champ me convient arer.’

889.I wol nat letten eek noon of this route, I desire not to hinder eke (also) none of all this company. Wol = desire; cf. ‘I will have mercy,’ &c.

890.aboute, i. e. in his turn, one after the other; corresponding to the sense ‘in rotation, in succession,’ given in the New English Dictionary. This sense of the word in this passage was pointed out by Dr. Kölbing in Engl. Studien, ii. 531. He instanced a similar use of the word in the Ormulum, l. 550, where the sense is—‘and ay, whensoever that flock of priests, being twenty-four in number, had all served once about in the temple.’

901.crëature is here a word of three syllables. In l. 1106 it has four syllables.

903.nolde, would not: the A. S. nolde is the pt. t. of nyllan, equivalent to ne willan, not to wish; cf. Lat. noluit, from nolle.

912.alle is to be pronounced al-lè. Tyrwhitt inserts than, then, after alle, against the authority of the best MSS. and of the old editions.

Statius (Theb. xii. 545) calls this lady Capaneia coniux; see l. 932, below. He says all the ladies were from Argos, and their husbands were kings.

913.a deedly chere, a deathly countenance or look.

918.we biseken, we beseech, ask for. For such double forms as beseken and besechen, cf. mod. Eng. dike and ditch, kirk and chirch, sack and satchel, stick and stitch. In the Early Eng. period the harder forms with k were very frequently employed by Northern writers, who preferred them to the palatalised Southern forms (perhaps influenced by Anglo-French) with ch. Cf. M. E. brig and rigg with bridge and ridge.

932.Capaneus, one of the seven heroes who besieged Thebes: struck dead by lightning as he was scaling the walls of the city, because he had defied Zeus; Theb. x. 927. See note to l. 912, above.

937. The celebrated siege of ‘The Seven against Thebes’; Capaneus being one of the seven kings.

941.for despyt, out of vexation; mod. E. ‘for spite.’

942.To do the dede bodyes vileinye, to treat the dead bodies shamefully.

948.withouten more respyt, without longer delay.

949.They fillen gruf, they fell flat with the face to the ground. In M. E. we find the phrase to fall grovelinges or to fall groveling. See Gruflynge and Ogrufe in the Catholicon Anglicum, and the editor’s notes, pp. 166, 259.

954.Himthoughte, it seemed to him; cf. methinks, it seems to me. In M. E. the verbs like, list, seem, rue (pity), are used impersonally, and take the dative case of the pronoun. Cf. the modern expression ‘if you please’=if it be pleasing to you.

966.His baner he desplayeth, i. e. he summons his troops to assemble for military service.

968.No neer, no nearer. Accent Athén-es on the second syllable; but in l. 973 it is accented on the first.

970.lay, lodged for the night.

975.státue, the image, as depicted on the banner.

977.feeldes, field, is an heraldic term for the ground upon which the various charges, as they are called, are emblazoned. Some of this Edition: current; Page: [64] description was suggested by the Thebais, lib. xii. 665, &c.; but the resemblance is very slight.

978.penoun, pennon. y-bete, beaten; the gold being hammered out into a thin foil in the shape of the Minotaur; see Marco Polo, ed. Yule, i. 344. But, in the Thebais, the Minotaur is upon Theseus’ shield.

988.In pleyn bataille, in open or fair fight.

993.obséquies (Elles., &c.); exéquies (Harl.); accented on the second syllable.

1006.harneys. ‘And arma be not taken onely for the instruments of al maner of crafts, but also for harneys and weapon; also standards and banners, and sometimes battels.’—Bossewell’s Armorie, p. 1, ed. 1597. Cf. l. 1613.

1010.Thurgh-girt, pierced through. This line is taken from Troilus, iv. 627: ‘Thourgh-girt with many a wyd and blody wounde.’

1011.liggyng by and by, lying near together, as in A. 4143; the usual old sense being ‘in succession,’ or ‘in order’; see examples in the New Eng. Dict., p. 1233, col. 3. In later English, by and by signifies presently, immediately, as ‘the end is not by and by.’

1012.in oon armes, in one (kind of) arms or armour, shewing that they belonged to the same house. Chaucer adapts ancient history to medieval time throughout his works.

1015.Nat fully quike, not wholly alive.

1016.by hir cote-armures, by their coat-armour, by the devices on the vest worn above the armour covering the breast. The cote-armure, as explained in my note to Barbour’s Bruce, xiii. 183, was ‘of no use as a defence, being made of a flimsy material; but was worn over the true armour of defence, and charged with armorial bearings’; see Ho. Fame, 1326. Cf. l. 1012. by hir gere, by their gear, i. e. equipments.

1018.they. Tyrwhitt (who relied too much on the black-letter editions) reads tho, those; but the seven best MSS. have they.

1023.Tathenes, to Athens (Harl. MS., which reads for to for to). Cf. tallegge, l. 3000 (foot-note).

1024.he nolde no raunsoun, he would accept of no ransom.

1029.Terme of his lyf, the remainder of his life. Cf. ‘The end and term of natural philosophy.’—Bacon’s Advancement of Learning, Bk. ii. p. 129, ed. Aldis Wright.

1035. Cf. Leg. of Good Women, 2425, 2426.

1038.stroof hir hewe, strove her hue; i.e. her complexion contested the superiority with the rose’s colour.

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1039.I noot, I know not; noot=ne woot.

1047.May. ‘Against Maie, every parishe, towne, and village, assembled themselves together, bothe men, women, and children, olde and yonge, even all indifferently, and either going all together or devidyng themselves into companies, they goe, some to the woodes and groves, some to the hills and mountaines, some to one place, some to another, where they spend all the night in pastimes; in the morninge they return, bringing with them birche, bowes and branches of trees, to deck their assemblies withalle.’—Stubbes, Anatomy of Abuses, ed. 1585, leaf 94 (ed. Furnivall, p. 149). See also Strutt, Manners and Customs, iii. 177. Cf. Midsummer Night’s Dream, i. 1. 167:—

1051.the sonne upriste, the sun’s uprising; the -e in sonne represents the old genitive inflexion. Upriste is here the dat. of the sb. uprist. It occurs also in Gower, Conf. Amantis, bk. i. ed. Pauli, i. 116.

1089.al-though, &c., although we had sworn to the contrary. Cf. ‘And can nought flee, if I had it sworn’; Lydgate, Dance of Machabre (The Sergeaunt). Also—‘he may himselfe not sustene Upon his feet, though he had it sworne’; Lydgate, Siege of Thebes (The Sphinx), pt. i.

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‘Thofe the rede knyghte had sworne,

Out of his sadille is he borne.’

Sir Percevalle, l. 61.

1091.the short and pleyn, the brief and manifest statement of the case. Pronounce this is as this; as frequently elsewhere; see l. 1743, E. 56, F. 889.

1122. ‘I am not but (no better than) dead, there is no more to say.’ Chaucer uses ne—but much in the same way as the Fr. ne—que. Cf. North English ‘I’m nobbut clemmed’=I am almost dead of hunger.

1126.by my fey, by my faith, in good faith.

1127.me list ful yvele pleye, it pleaseth me very badly to play.

1128. This debate is an imitation of the longer debate (in the Teseide), where Palamon and Arcite meet in the grove; cf. l. 1580 below.

1129.It nere=it were not, it would not be.

1132. ‘It was a common practice in the middle ages for persons to take formal oaths of fraternity and friendship; and a breach of the oath was considered something worse than perjury. This incident enters into the plots of some of the medieval romances. A curious example will be found in the Romance of Athelston; Reliquiæ Antiquæ, ii. 85.’—Wright. A note in Bell’s Chaucer reminds us that instances occur also in the old heroic times; as in the cases of Theseus and Peirithous, Achilles and Patroclus, Pylades and Orestes, Nysus and Euryalus. See Sworn Brothers in Nares’ Glossary; Rom. of the Rose, 2884.

1133. ‘That never, even though it cost us a miserable death, a death by torture.’ So in Troilus, i. 674: ‘That certayn, for to deyen in the peyne.’ Also in the E. version of The Romaunt of the Rose, 3326.

1134. ‘Till that death shall part us two.’ Cf. the ingenious alteration in the Marriage Service, where the phrase ‘till death us depart’ was altered into ‘do part’ in 1661.

1136.cas, case. It properly means event, hap. See l. 1074.

my leve brother, my dear brother.

1141.out of doute, without doubt, doubtless.

1147.to my counseil, to my adviser. See l. 1161.

1151.I dar wel seyn, I dare maintain.

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1153.Thou shalt be. Chaucer occasionally uses shall in the sense of owe, so that the true sense of I shall is I owe (Lat. debeo); it expresses a strong obligation. So here it is not so much the sign of a future tense as a separate verb, and the sense is ‘Thou art sure to be false sooner than I am.’

1155.par amour, with love, in the way of love. To love par amour is an old phrase for to love excessively. Cf. Bruce, xiii. 485; and see A. 2112, below; Troil. v. 158, 332.

1158.affeccioun of holinesse, a sacred affection, or aspiration after.

1162.I pose, I put the case, I will suppose.

1163. ‘Knowest thou not well the old writer’s saying?’ The olde clerk is Boethius, from whose book, De Consolatione Philosophiae, Chaucer has borrowed largely in many places. The passage alluded to is in lib. iii. met. 12:—

‘Quis legem det amantibus?

Maior lex amor est sibi.’

Chaucer’s translation (vol. ii. p. 92, l. 37) has—‘But what is he that may yive a lawe to loveres? Love is a gretter lawe . . . than any lawe that men may yeven.’ And see Troil. iv. 618.

1167.and swich decree, and (all) such ordinances.

1168.in ech degree, in every rank of life.

1172.And eek it is, &c., ‘and moreover it is not likely that ever in all thy life thou wilt stand in her favour.’

1177. This fable, in this particular form, is not in any of the usual collections; but it is, practically, the same as that called ‘The Lion, the Tiger, and the Fox’ in Croxall’s Æsop. Sometimes it is ‘the Lion, the Bear, and the Fox’; the Fox subtracts the prey for which the others fight. It is no. 247 in Halm’s edition of the ‘Fabulae Æsopicae,’ Lips., Teubner, 1852, with the moral:—ὁ μυ̑θος δηλοι̑, ὅτι ἄλλων κοπιώντων ἄλλοι κερδαίνουσιν. In La Fontaine’s Fables, it appears as Les Voleurs et l’Âne. Thynne coolly altered kyte to cur, and then had to insert so after were to fill up the line.

1186.everich of us, each of us, every one of us.

1189.to theffect, to the result, or end.

1196. From the Legend of Good Women, 2282.

1200.in helle. An allusion to Theseus accompanying Pirithous in his expedition to carry off Proserpina, daughter of Aidoneus, king of the Molossians, when both were taken prisoner, and Pirithous torn in pieces by the dog Cerberus. At least, such is the story in Plutarch; see Shakespeare’s Plutarch, ed. Skeat, p. 289. Chaucer found the mention of Pirithous’ visit to Athens in Boccaccio’s Teseide, iii. 47–51. The rest he found in Le Roman de la Rose, 8186—

‘Si cum vesquist, ce dist l’istoire,

Pyrithous apres sa mort,

Que Theseus tant ama mort.

Tant le queroit, tant le sivoit . . .

Que vis en enfer l’ala querre.’

Edition: current; Page: [68]

1201. Observe the expression to wryte, which shews that this story was not originally meant to be told. (Anglia, viii. 453.)

1212. Most MSS. read or stounde, i. e. or at any hour. MS. Dd. has o stound, one moment, any short interval of time.

‘The storme sesed within a stounde.’

Ywaine and Gawin, l. 384.

On this slight authority, Tyrwhitt altered the reading, and is followed by Wright and Bell, though MS. Hl. really has or like the rest, and the black-letter editions have the same.

1218.his nekke lyth to wedde, his neck is in jeopardy; lit. lies in pledge or in pawn.

1222.To sleen himself he wayteth prively, he watches for an opportunity to slay himself unperceived.

1223. This line, slightly altered, occurs also in the Legend of Good Women, 658.

1225.Now is me shape, now I am destined; literally, now is it shapen (or appointed) for me.

1247. It was supposed that all things were made of the four elements mentioned in l. 1246. ‘Does not our life consist of the four elements?’—Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, ii. 3. 10.

1255. Cf. P. Plowman, C. xiii. 236.

1257. ‘And another man would fain (get) out of his prison.’

1259.matere; in the matter of thinking to excel God’s providence.

1260. ‘We never know what thing it is that we pray for here below.’ See Romans viii. 26.

1261.dronke is as a mous. This phrase seems to have given way to ‘drunk as a rat.’ ‘Thus satte they swilling and carousyng, one to another, till they were both as dronke as rattes.’—Stubbes, Anatomie of Abuses; ed. Furnivall, p. 113.

‘I am a Flemying, what for all that,

Although I wyll be dronken otherwhyles as a rat.’

Andrew Boorde, ed. Furnivall, p. 147.

Cf. ‘When that he is dronke as a dreynt mous’; Ritson, Ancient Songs, i. 70 (Man in the Moon, l. 31). ‘And I will pledge Tom Tosspot, till I be drunk as a mouse-a’; Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, iii. 339. See also Skelton, Colin Clout, 803; and D. 246.

1262. This is from Boethius, De Consolatione, lib. iii. pr. 2: ‘But I retorne ayein to the studies of men, of whiche men the corage alwey reherseth and seketh the sovereyn good, al be it so that it be with a derked memorie; but he not by whiche path, right as a dronken man not nat by whiche path he may retorne him to his hous.’—Chaucer’s Translation of Boethius; vol. ii. p. 54, l. 57.

1264.slider, slippery; as in the Legend of Good Women, l. 648. Cf. the gloss—‘Lubricum, slidere’; Reliquiae Antiquae, i. 7.

1279.pure fettres, the very fetters. ‘So in the Duchesse, l. 583, the pure deeth. The Greeks used καθαρός in the same sense.’—Tyrwhitt.

1308. Copied in Lydgate’s Horse, Sheep, and Goose, 124:—‘But here this schepe, rukkyng in his folde.’ ‘Rukkun, or cowre down’; Prompt. Parv. In B. 4416, MSS. Cp. Pt. Ln. have rouking in place of lurking.

1317.to letten of his wille, to refrain from his will (or lusts).

1333. Cf. the phrase ‘paurosa gelosia’; Tes. v. 2.

1344.upon his heed, on pain of losing his head. ‘Froissart has sur sa teste, sur la teste, and sur peine de la teste.’—T.

1347.this question. ‘An implied allusion to the medieval courts of love, in which questions of this kind were seriously discussed.’—Wright.

1366.making his mone, making his complaint or moan.

1372. ‘In his changing mood, for all the world, he conducted himself not merely like one suffering from the lover’s disease of Eros, but rather (his disease was) like mania engendered of melancholy humour.’ This is one of the numerous allusions to the four humours, viz. the choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine, and melancholic. An excess of the latter was supposed to produce ‘melancholy madness.’ gere, flighty manner, changeableness; ‘Siche wilde gerys hade he mo’; Thornton Romances, Sir Percival, l. 1353. See note to l. 1536.

1376.in his celle fantastyk. Tyrwhitt reads Beforne his hed in his celle fantastike. Elles. has Biforn his owene celle fantastik. ‘The division of the brain into cells, according to the different sensitive faculties, is very ancient, and is found depicted in medieval manuscripts. The fantastic cell (fantasia) was in front of the head.’—Wright. Hence Biforen means ‘in the front part of his head.’

‘Madnesse is infection of the formost cel of the head, with priuation of imagination, lyke as melancholye is the infection of the middle cell of the head, with priuation of reason, as Constant. saith in libro de Melancolia. Melancolia (saith he) is an infection that hath mastry of the soule, the which commeth of dread and of sorrow. And these passions be diuerse after the diuersity of the hurt of their workings; for by madnesse that is called Mania, principally the imagination is hurt; and in the other reson is hurted.’—Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. vii. c. 6. Vincent of Beauvais, bk. xxviii. c. 41, cites a similar statement from the Liber de Anatomia, which begins:—‘Cerebrum itaque tribus cellulis est distinctum. Duae namque meringes cerebri faciunt tres plicaturas inter se denexas, in quibus tres sunt cellulae: phantastica scilicet ab anteriori parte capitis, in qua sedem habet imaginatio.’ So in Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. v. c. 3:—‘The Braine . . . is diuided in three celles or dens . . . In the formost cell . . . imagination is conformed and made; in the middle, reason; in the hindermost, recordation and minde’ [memory]. Cf. also Burton, Anat. of Melancholy, pt. 2. sec. 3. mem. 1. subsec. 2.

1405.bar him lowe, conducted himself as one of low estate. Cf. E. 2013.

1409. Cf. ‘in maniera di pover valletto’; Tes. iv. 22.

1428. In the Teseide, iv. 3, he takes the name of Penteo. Philostrato is the name of another work by Boccaccio, answering to Chaucer’s Troilus. The Greek ϕιλόστρατος means, literally, ‘army-lover’; but it is to be noted that Boccaccio did not so understand it. He actually connected it with the Lat. stratus, and explained it to mean ‘vanquished or prostrated with love’; and this is how the name is here used.

1463. The third night is followed by the fourth day; so Palamon and Arcite meet on the 4th of May (l. 1574), which was a Friday (l. 1534); the first hour of which was dedicated to Venus (l. 1536) and to lovers’ vows (l. 1501). The 4th of May was a Friday in 1386.

1471.clarree. ‘The French term claré seems simply to have denoted a clear transparent wine, but in its most usual sense a compounded drink of wine with honey and spices, so delicious as to be comparable to the nectar of the gods. In Sloane MS. 2584, f. 173, the following directions are found for making clarré:—“Take a galoun of honi, and skome (skim) it wel, and loke whanne it is isoden (boiled), that ther be a galoun; thanne take viii galouns of red wyn, than take a pound of pouder canel (cinnamon), and half a pounde of pouder gynger, and a quarter of a pounde of pouder peper, and medle (mix) alle these thynges togeder and (with) the wyn; and do hym in a clene barelle, and stoppe it fast, and rolle it wel ofte sithes, as men don verious, iii dayes.” ’—Way; note to Prompt. Parv., p. 79. ‘The Craft to make Clarre’ is also given in Arnold’s Chronicle of London; and see the Gloss. to the Babees Book. See Rom. of the Rose, 5971.

1477.nedes-cost, for needes coste, by the force of necessity. It seems to be equivalent to M.E. needes-wyse, of necessity. Alre-coste (Icelandic alls-kostar, in all respects) signifies ‘in every wise.’ It occurs in Old English Homilies (ed. Morris), part i. p. 21: ‘We ne maȝen alre-coste halden Crist(es) bibode,’ we are not able in every wise to keep Christ’s behests. The right reading in Leg. Good Women, 2697, is:—

1500. See note to l. 1047, where the parallel line from Shakespeare is quoted. And cf. Troil. ii. 112—‘And lat us don to May som observaunce.’ See the interesting article on May-day Customs in Brand’s Popular Antiquities (where the quotation from Stubbes will be found); also Chambers, Book of Days, i. 577, where numerous passages relating to May are cited from old poems. An early passage relative to the 1st of May occurs in the Orologium Sapientiae, printed in Anglia, x. 387:—‘And thanne is the custome of dyuerse contrees that yonge folke gone on the nyghte or erely on the morow to Medowes and woddes, and there they kutten downe bowes that haue fayre grene leves, and arayen hem with flowres; and after they setten hem byfore the dores where they trowe to haue amykes [friends?] in her lovers, in token of frendschip and trewe loue.’ And see May-day in Nares.

1524.at unset stevene, at a meeting not previously fixed upon, an unexpected meeting or appointment. This was a proverbial saying, as is evident from the way in which it is quoted in Sir Eglamour, 1282 (Thornton Romances, p. 174):—

‘Hyt ys sothe seyde, be God of heven,

Mony metyn at on-sett stevyn.’

Cf. ‘Wee may chance to meet with Robin Hood

Here att some unsett steven.’

Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne; in Percy’s

Reliques of Eng. Poetry.

Edition: current; Page: [72]

‘Thei setten steuen,’ they made an appointment; Knight de la Tour-Landry, ch. iii. And see below, The Cokes Tale:

‘And ther they setten steven for to mete’; A. 4383.

1531.hir queynte geres, their strange behaviours.

1532. Now in the top (i. e. elevated, in high spirits), now down in the briars (i. e. depressed, in low spirits).

‘Allas! where is this worldes stabilnesse?

Here up, here doune; here honour, here repreef;

Now hale, now sike; now bounté, now myscheef.’

Occleve, De Reg. Princip. p. 2.

1533.boket in a welle. Cf. Shakespeare’s Richard II., iv. 1. 184. ‘Like so many buckets in a well; as one riseth another falleth, one’s empty, another’s full.’—Burton’s Anat. of Mel. p. 33.

1536.gery, changeable; so also gerful in l. 1538. Observe also the sb. gere, a changeable mood, in ll. 1372, 1531, and Book of the Duchesse, 1257. This very scarce word deserves illustration. Mätzner’s Dictionary gives us some examples.

1654.Foynen, thrust, push. It is a mistake to explain this, as usual, by ‘fence,’ as fence (= defence) suggests parrying; whereas foinen means to thrust or push, as in attack, not as in defence. It occurs again in l. 2550. Hence it is commonly used of the pushing with spears.

‘With speres ferisly [fiercely] they foynede.’

Sir Degrevant, 274 (Thornton, Rom. p. 188).

Strutt (Sports and Pastimes, bk. iii. c. 1. § 32) explains that a thrust is more dangerous than a cut, and quotes the old advice, that ‘to foyne is better than to smyte.’ ‘And there kyng Arthur smote syr Mordred vnder the shelde wyth a foyne of his spere thorughoute the body more than a fadom’; Sir T. Malory, Morte Darthur, bk. xxi. c. 4. This was a foine indeed!

1656. Deficient in the foot. Scan:—In | his fight | ing, &c. The usual insertion of as before a is wholly unauthorised.

1678.hunte, hunter, huntsman; whence Hunt as a surname. I find this form as late as in Gascoigne’s Art of Venerie: ‘I am the Hunte’; Works, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 306.

1698. Similarly, Adrastus stopped the fight between Tydeus and Polynices; Statius, Theb. i. Lydgate describes this in his Siege of Thebes, pt. ii, and takes occasion to borrow several expressions from this part of the Knightes Tale.

1706.Ho, an exclamation made by heralds, to stop the fight. It was also used to enjoin silence. See ll. 2533, 2656; Troil. iv. 1242.

1707.Up peyne is the old phrase; as in ‘up peyne of emprisonement of 40 days’; Riley’s Memorials of London, p. 580.

1736.it am I. ‘This is the regular construction in early English. In modern English the pronoun it is regarded as the direct nominative, and I as forming part of the predicate.’—M.

1739. ‘Therefore I ask my death and my doom.’

1747.Mars the rede. Boccaccio uses the same epithet in the opening of his Teseide, i. 3: ‘O Marte rubicondo.’ Rede refers to the colour of the planet; cf. Anelida, 1.

1761. This line occurs again three times; March. Tale E. 1986; Squieres Tale, F. 479; Legend of Good Women, 503.

1780.can no divisoun, knows no distinction.

1781.after oon = after one mode, according to the same rule.

1783.eyen lighte, cheerful looks.

1785. See the Romaunt of the Rose, 878–884; vol. i. p. 130.

1799. ‘Amare et Sapere vix Deo conceditur.’—Publius Syrus, Sent. 15. Cf. Adv. of Learning, ii. proem. § 15—‘It is not granted to man to love and to be wise’; ed. Wright, p. 84. So also in Bacon’s 10th Essay. The reading here given is correct. Fool is used with great emphasis; the sense is:—‘Who can be a (complete) fool, unless he is in love?’ The old printed editions have the same reading. The Harl. MS. alone has if that for but-if, giving the sense: ‘Who can be fool, if he is in love?’ As this is absurd, Mr. Wright silently inserted not after may, and is followed by Bell and Morris; but the latter prints not in italics. Observe that the line is deficient in the first foot. Read:—Whó | may bé | a fóol, &c.

1807.jolitee, joyfulness—said of course ironically.

1808.Can . . . thank, acknowledges an obligation, owes thanks.

1814.a servant, i. e. a lover. This sense of servant, as a term of gallantry, is common in our dramatists.

1815, 1818. Cf. the Teseide, v. 92.

1837.looth or leef, displeasing or pleasing.

1838.pypen in an ivy leef is an expression like ‘blow the buck’s-horn’ in A. 3387, meaning to console oneself with any frivolous employment; Edition: current; Page: [75] it occurs again in Troilus, v. 1433. Cf. the expression ‘to go and whistle.’ Cf. ‘farwel the gardiner; he may pipe with an yue-leafe; his fruite is failed’; Test. of Love, bk. iii; ed. 1561, fol. 316. Boys still blow against a leaf, and produce a squeak. Lydgate uses similar expressions:—

‘But let his brother blowe in an horn,

Where that him list, or pipe in a reede.’

Destruction of Thebes, part ii.

Again, in Hazlitt’s Proverbs, we find ‘To go blow one’s flute,’ which is taken from an old proverb. In Vox Populi Vox Dei (circa 1547), pr. in Hazlitt’s Popular Poetry, iii. 284, are the lines:—

1850.fer ne ner, farther nor nearer, neither more nor less. ‘After some little trouble, I have arrived at the conclusion that Chaucer has given us sufficient data for ascertaining both the days of the month and of the week of many of the principal events of the “Knightes Tale.” The following scheme will explain many things hitherto unnoticed.

‘On Friday, May 4, before 1 a. m., Palamon breaks out of prison. For (l. 1463) it was during the “third night of May, but (l. 1467) a little after midnight.” That it was Friday is evident also, from observing that Palamon hides himself at day’s approach, whilst Arcite rises “for to doon his observance to May, remembring on the poynt of his desyr.” To do this best, he would go into the fields at sunrise (l. 1491), during the hour dedicated to Venus, i. e. during the hour after sunrise on a Friday. If however this seem for a moment doubtful, all doubt is removed by the following lines:—

“Right as the Friday, soothly for to telle,

Now it shyneth, now it reyneth faste,

Right so gan gery Venus overcaste

The hertes of hir folk; right as hir day

Is gerful, right so chaungeth she array.

Selde is the Friday al the wyke ylyke.”

‘All this is very little to the point unless we suppose Friday to be the day. Or, if the reader have still any doubt about this, let him observe the curious accumulation of evidence which is to follow.

‘Palamon and Arcite meet, and a duel is arranged for an early hour on the day following. That is, they meet on Saturday, May 5. But, as Saturday is presided over by the inauspicious planet Saturn, it is no wonder that they are both unfortunate enough to have their duel Edition: current; Page: [76] interrupted by Theseus, and to find themselves threatened with death. Still, at the intercession of the queen and Emily, a day of assembly for a tournament is fixed for “this day fifty wykes” (l. 1850). Now we must understand “fifty wykes” to be a poetical expression for a year. This is not mere supposition, however, but a certainty; because the appointed day was in the month of May, whereas fifty weeks and no more would land us in April. Then “this day fyfty wekes” means “this day year,” viz. on May 5. [In fact, Boccaccio has ‘un anno intero’; Tes. v. 98.]

‘Now, in the year following (supposed not a leap-year), the 5th of May would be Sunday. But this we are expressly told in l. 2188. It must be noted, however, that this is not the day of the tournament1, but of the muster for it, as may be gleaned from ll. 1850–1854 and 2096. The eleventh hour “inequal” of Sunday night, or the second hour before sunrise of Monday, is dedicated to Venus, as explained by Tyrwhitt (l. 2217); and therefore Palamon then goes to the temple of Venus. The next hour is dedicated to Mercury. The third hour, the first after sunrise on Monday, is dedicated to Luna or Diana, and during this Emily goes to Diana’s temple. The fourth after sunrise is dedicated to Mars, and therefore Arcite then goes to the temple of Mars. But the rest of the day is spent merely in jousting and preparations—

“Al that Monday justen they and daunce.” (l. 2486.)

The tournament therefore takes place on Tuesday, May 7, on the day of the week presided over by Mars, as was very fitting; and this perhaps helps to explain Saturn’s exclamation in l. 2669, “Mars hath his wille.” ’—Walter W. Skeat, in Notes and Queries, Fourth Series, ii. 2, 3; Sept. 12, 1868 (since slightly corrected).

To this was added the observation, that May 5 was on a Saturday in 1386, and on a Sunday in 1387. Ten Brink (Studien, p. 189) thinks it is of no value; but the coincidence is curious.

1866. ‘Except that one of you shall be either slain or taken prisoner’; i. e. one of you must be fairly conquered.

1884.listes, lists. ‘The lists for the tilts and tournaments resembled those, I doubt not, appointed for the ordeal combats, which, according to the rules established by Thomas, duke of Gloucester, uncle to Richard II., were as follows. The king shall find the field to fight in, and the lists shall be made and devised by the constable; and it is to be observed, that the list must be 60 paces long and 40 paces broad, set up in good order, and the ground within hard, stable, and level, without any great stones or other impediments; also, that the lists must be made with one door to the east, and another to the west [see Edition: current; Page: [77] ll. 1893, 4]; and strongly barred about with good bars 7 feet high or more, so that a horse may not be able to leap over them.’—Strutt, Sports and Pastimes; bk. iii. c. 1. § 23.

1889. The various parts of this round theatre are subsequently described. On the North was the turret of Diana, with an oratory; on the East the gate of Venus, with altar and oratory above; on the West the gate of Mars, similarly provided.

1890.Ful of degrees, full of steps (placed one above another, as in an amphitheatre). ‘But now they have gone a nearer way to the wood, for with wooden galleries in the church that they have, and stairy degrees of seats in them, they make as much room to sit and hear, as a new west end would have done.’—Nash’s Red Herring, p. 21. See Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar, ii. 126, and also 2 Kings xx. 9. Cf. ‘While she stey up from gre to gre.’—Lives of Saints, Roxb. Club, p. 59. Lines 1187–1894 are more or less imitated from the Teseide, vii. 108–110.

1910. Coral is a curious material to use for such a purpose; but we find posts of coral and a palace chiefly formed of coral and metal in Guy of Warwick, ed. Zupitza, 11399–11401.

1919.on the wal, viz. on the walls within the oratory. The description is loosely imitated from Boccaccio’s Teseide, vii. 55–59. It is remarkable that there is a much closer imitation of the same passage in Chaucer’s Parl. of Foules, ll. 183–294. Thus at l. 246 of that poem we find:—

‘Within the temple, of syghes hote as fyr,

I herde a swogh, that gan aboute renne;

Which syghes were engendred with desyr,

That maden every auter for to brenne

Of newe flaume; and wel aspyed I thenne

That al the cause of sorwes that they drye

Com of the bitter goddesse Ialousye.’

There is yet another description of the temple of Venus in the House of Fame, 119–139, where we have the very line ‘Naked fletinge in a see’ (cf. l. 1956 below), and a mention of the ‘rose garlond’ (cf. l. 1961), and of ‘Hir dowves and daun Cupido’ (cf. ll. 1962–3).

1929.golde, a marigold; Calendula. ‘Goolde, herbe: Solsequium, quia sequitur solem, elitropium, calendula’; Prompt. Parv. The cornmarigold in the North is called goulans, guilde, or goles, and in the South, golds (Way). Gower says that Leucothea was changed

‘Into a floure was named golde,

Which stant governed of the sonne.’

Conf. Am., ed. Pauli, ii. 356.

Edition: current; Page: [78]

Yellow is the colour of jealousy; see Yellowness in Nares. In the Rom. de la Rose, 22037, Jealousy is described as wearing a ‘chapel de soussie,’ i. e. a chaplet of marigolds.

1936.Citheroun=Cithaeron, sacred to Venus; as said in the Rom. de la Rose, 15865, q. v.

1940. In the Romaunt of the Rose, Idleness is the porter of the garden in which the rose (Beauty) is kept. In the Parl. of Foules, 261, the porter’s name is Richesse. Cf. ll. 2, 3 of the Second Nonnes Tale (G. 2, 3).

1971.estres, the inner parts of a building; as also in A. 4295 and Leg. of Good Women, 1715. ‘To spere the estyrs of Rome’; Le Bone Florence, 293; in Ritson, Met. Rom. iii. 13. See also Cursor Mundi, 2252.

By mistaking the long s (ſ) for f, this word has been misprinted as eftures in the following: ‘Pleaseth it yow to see the eftures of this castel?’—Sir Thomas Malory, Mort Arthure, b. xix. c. 7.

1979.a rumbel and a swough, a rumbling and a sound of wind.

1982.Mars armipotente.

‘O thou rede Marz armypotente,

That in the trende baye hase made thy throne;

That God arte of bataile and regent,

And rulist all that alone;

To whom I profre precious present,

To the makande my moone

With herte, body and alle myn entente,

. . . . . .

In worshipe of thy reverence

On thyn owen Tewesdaye.’

Sowdone of Babyloyne, ll. 939–953.

Edition: current; Page: [79]

The word armipotent is borrowed from Boccaccio’s armipotente, in the Teseide, vii. 32. Other similar borrowings occur hereabouts, too numerous for mention. Note that this description of the temple of Mars once belonged to the end of the poem of Anelida, which see.

Let the reader take particular notice that the temple here described (ll. 1982–1994) is merely a painted temple, depicted on one of the walls inside the oratory of Mars. The walls of the other temples had paintings similar to those inside the temple of which the outside is here depicted. Chaucer describes the painted temple as if it were real, which is somewhat confusing. Inconsistent additions were made in revision.

1984.streit, narrow; ‘la stretta entrata’; Tes. vii. 32.

1985.vese is glossed impetus in the Ellesmere MS., and means ‘rush’ or ‘hurrying blast.’ It is allied to M.E. fesen, to drive, which is Shakespeare’s pheeze. Copied from ‘salit Impetus amens E foribus’; Theb. vii. 47, 48.

1987. ‘I suppose the northern light is the aurora borealis, but this phenomenon is so rarely mentioned by mediaeval writers, that it may be questioned whether Chaucer meant anything more than the faint and cold illumination received by reflexion through the door of an apartment fronting the north.’ (Marsh.) The fact is, however, that Chaucer here copies Statius, Theb. vii. 40–58; see the translation in the note to l. 2017 below. The ‘northern light’ seems to be an incorrect rendering of ‘aduersum Phoebi iubar’; l. 45.

2004.chirking is used of grating and creaking sounds; and sometimes, of the cry of birds. The Lansd. MS. has schrikeinge (shrieking). See House of Fame, iii. 853 (or 1943). In Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. viii. c. 29, the music of the spheres is attributed to the ‘cherkyng of the mouing of the circles, and of the roundnes of heauen.’ In Chaucer’s tr. of Boethius, bk. i. met. 6, it is an adj., and translates stridens. Cf. D. 1804, I. 605.

2007. This line contains an allusion to the death of Sisera, Judges iv. But Dr. Koch has pointed out (Essays on Chaucer, Chaucer Soc. iv. 371) that we have here some proof that Chaucer may have altered his first draft of the poem without taking sufficient heed to what he was about. The original line may have stood—

‘The sleer of her husband saw I there’—

or something of that kind; for the reason that no suicide has ever yet been known to drive a nail into his own head. That a wife might do so to her husband is Chaucer’s own statement; for, in the Cant. Tales, D. 765–770, we find—

‘Of latter date, of wives hath he red,

That somme han slayn hir housbondes in hir bed . . .

And somme han drive nayles in hir brayn,

Whyl that they slepte, and thus they han hem slayn.’

Of course it may be said that l. 2006 is entirely independent of l. 2007, and I have punctuated the text so as to suit this arrangement; but the suggestion is worth notice.

2011. From Tes. vii. 35:—‘Videvi ancora l’allegro Furore,’—Kölbing.

2017.hoppesteres. Speght explains this word by pilots (gubernaculum tenentes); Tyrwhitt, female dancers (Ital. ballatrice). Others explain it hopposteres=opposteres=opposing, hostile, so that schippes hoppesteres=bellatrices carinae (Statius). As, however, it is impossible to suppose that even opposteres without the h can ever have been formed from the verb to oppose, the most likely solution is that Chaucer mistook the word bellatrices in Statius (vii. 57) or the corresponding Ital. word bellatrici in the Teseide, vii. 37, for ballatrices or ballatrici, which might be supposed to mean ‘female dancers’; an expression which would exactly correspond to an M.E. form hoppesteres, from the A. S. hoppestre, a female dancer. Herodias’ daughter is mentioned (in the dative case) as þære lyðran hoppystran (better spelt hoppestran) in Ælfric’s A. S. Homilies, ed. Thorpe, i. 484. Hence shippes hoppesteres simply means ‘dancing ships.’ Shakespeare likens the English fleet to ‘A city on the inconstant billows dancing’; Hen. V. iii. prol. 15. Cf. O. F. baleresse, a female dancer, in Godefroy’s Dict., s. v. baleor. In § 55 of Cl. Ptolomaci Centum Dicta, printed at Ulm in 1641, we are told that Mars is hostile to ships when in the zenith or the Edition: current; Page: [81] eleventh house. ‘Incendetur autem nauis, si ascendens ab aliqua stella fixa quae ex Martis mixtura sit, affligetur.’ So that, if a fixed star co-operated with Mars, the ships were burnt.

The following extract from Lewis’ translation of Statius’ Thebaid, bk. vii., is of some interest:—

‘Beneath the fronting height of Æmus stood

The fane of Mars, encompass’d by a wood.

The mansion, rear’d by more than mortal hands,

On columns fram’d of polish’d iron stands;

The well-compacted walls are plated o’er

With the same metal; just without the door

A thousand Furies frown. The dreadful gleam,

That issues from the sides, reflects the beam

Of adverse Phœbus, and with cheerless light

Saddens the day, and starry host of night.

Well his attendants suit the dreary place;

First frantic Passion, Wrath with redd’ning face,

And Mischief blind from forth the threshold start;

Within lurks pallid Fear with quiv’ring heart,

Discord, a two-edged falchion in her hand,

And Treach’ry, striving to conceal the brand.’

2020.for al, notwithstanding. Cf. Piers the Plowman, B. xix. 274.

2021.infortune of Marte. ‘Tyrwhitt thinks that Chaucer might intend to be satirical in these lines; but the introduction of such apparently undignified incidents arose from the confusion already mentioned of the god of war with the planet to which his name was given, and the influence of which was supposed to produce all the disasters here mentioned. The following extract from the Compost of Ptolemeus gives some of the supposed effects of Mars:—“Under Mars is borne theves and robbers that kepe hye wayes, and do hurte to true men, and nyght-walkers, and quarell-pykers, bosters, mockers, and skoffers, and these men of Mars causeth warre and murther, and batayle; they wyll be gladly smythes or workers of yron, lyght-fyngred, and lyers, gret swerers of othes in vengeable wyse, and a great surmyler and crafty. He is red and angry, with blacke heer, and lytell iyen; he shall be a great walker, and a maker of swordes and knyves, and a sheder of mannes blode, and a fornycatour, and a speker of rybawdry . . . and good to be a barboure and a blode-letter, and to drawe tethe, and is peryllous of his handes.” The following extract is from an old astrological book of the sixteenth century:—“Mars denoteth men with red faces and the skinne redde, the face round, the eyes yellow, horrible to behold, furious men, cruell, desperate, proude, sedicious, souldiers, captaines, smythes, colliers, bakers, alcumistes, armourers, furnishers, butchers, chirurgions, barbers, sargiants, and hangmen, according as they shal be well or evill disposed.” ’—Wright. So also in Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia, lib. i. c. 22. Edition: current; Page: [82] Chaucer has ‘cruel Mars’ in The Man of Lawes Tale, B. 301; and cf. note to A. 1087.

2022. From Statius, Theb. vii. 58:—

‘Et uacui currus, protritaque curribus ora.’

2029. For the story of Damocles, see Cicero, Tuscul. 5. 61; cf. Horace, Od. iii. 1. 17. And see Chaucer’s tr. of Boethius, bk. iii. pr. 5. 17. Most likely Chaucer got it from Boethius or from the Gesta Romanorum, cap. 143, since the name of Damocles is omitted.

2037.sterres (Harl.) Elles. &c. have certres (sertres); but this strange reading can hardly be other than a mistake for sterres, which is proved to be the right word by the parallel passage in The Man of Lawes Tale, B. 194–6.

2041. In the note to l. 1955, I have quoted part of cap. v. of a work by Albricus. In cap. iii. (De Marte) of the same, we have a description of Mars, which should be compared. I quote all that is material. ‘Erat enim eius figura tanquam unius hominis furibundi, in curru sedens, armatus lorica, et caeteris armis offensiuis et defensiuis. . . Ante illum uero lupus ouem portans pingebatur, quia illud scilicet animal ab antiquis gentibus ipsi Marti specialiter consecratum est. Iste enim Mauors est, id est mares uorans, eo quod bellorum deus a gentibus dictus est.’ Chaucer seems to have taken the notion of the wolf devouring a man from this singular etymology of Mauors.

2045. ‘The names of two figures in geomancy, representing two constellations in heaven. Puella signifieth Mars retrogade, and Rubeus Mars direct.’—Note in Speght’s Chaucer. It is obvious that this explanation is wrong as regards ‘Mars retrograde’ and ‘Mars direct,’ because a constellation cannot represent a single planet. It happens to be also wrong as regards ‘constellations in heaven.’ But Speght is correct in the main point, viz., that Puella and Rubeus are ‘the names of two figures in geomancy.’ Geomancy was described, under the title of ‘Divination by Spotting,’ in The Saturday Review, Feb. 16, 1889. To form geomantic figures, proceed thus. Take a pencil, and hurriedly jot down on a paper a number of dots in a line, without counting them. Do the same three times more. Now count the dots, to see whether they are odd or even. If the dots in a line are odd, put down one dot on another small paper, half-way across it. If they are even, put down two dots, one towards each side; arranging the results in four rows, one beneath the other.

Three of the figures thus formed require our attention; the whole number being sixteen. Fig. 1 results from the dots being odd, even, odd, odd. Fig. 2, from even, odd, even, even. Fig. 3, from odd, odd, even, odd. These (as well as the rest of the sixteen figures) are given in Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia, lib. ii. cap. 48: De Figuris Geomanticis. Each ‘Figure’ had a ‘Name,’ belonged to an Edition: current; Page: [83] ‘Element,’ and possessed a ‘Planet’ and a Zodiacal ‘Sign.’ Cornelius Agrippa gives our three ‘figures’ as below.

Chaucer (or some one else) seems to have confused figures 1 and 3, or Puer with Puella; for Puella was dedicated to Venus. Rubeus is clearly right, as Mars was the red planet (l. 1747). I first explained this, somewhat more fully, in The Academy, March 2, 1889.

The nymph Callisto was changed into Arctos or the Great Bear; hence “Vrsa Maior” is written in the margin of E. Hn. Cp. Ln. This was sometimes confused with the other Arctos or Lesser Bear, in which was situate the lodestar or Polestar. Chaucer has followed this error. Callisto’s son, Arcas, was changed into Arctophylax or Boötes: here again Chaucer says a sterre, when he means a whole constellation; as, perhaps, he does in other passages.’—Chaucer’s Astrolabe, ed. Skeat (E. E. T. S.), pp. xlviii, xlix.

2079. Cf. ‘gawdy greene. subviridis’; Prompt. Parv. This gaudè has nothing whatever to do with the E. sb. gaud, but answers to F. gaudé, the pp. of the verb gauder, to dye with weld; from the F. sb. gaude, weld. As to weld, see my note to The Former Age, 17; in Edition: current; Page: [84] vol. i. p. 540. Littré has an excellent example of the word: ‘Les bleus teints en indigo doivent être gaudés, et ils deviennent verts.’

2086.thou mayst best, art best able to help, thou hast most power. Lucina was a title both of Juno and Diana; see Vergil, Ecl. iv. 10.

2115.benedicite is here pronounced as a trisyllable, viz. ben’cite. It usually is so, though five syllables in l. 1785. Cf. benste in Towneley Myst. p. 85. Cf. ‘What, liveth nat thy lady, benedicite!’ Troil. i. 780. Benedicite is equivalent to ‘thank God,’ and was used in saying graces. See Babees Book, pp. 382, 386; and Appendix, p. 9.

2125. This line seems to mean that there is nothing new under the sun.

2129. This is the ‘re Licurgo’ of the Teseide, vi. 14; and the Lycurgus of the Thebaid, iv. 386, and of Homer, Il. vi. 130. But the description of him is partly taken from that of another warrior, Tes. vi. 21, 22. It is worth notice that, in Lydgate’s Story of Thebes, pt. iii., king Ligurgus or Licurgus (the name is spelt both ways) is introduced, and Lydgate has the following remark concerning him:—

‘And the kingdom, but-if bokes lye,

Of Ligurgus, called was Trace;

And, as I rede in another place,

He was the same mighty champion

To Athenes that cam with Palamon

Ayenst his brother (!) that called was Arcite,

Y-led in his chare with foure boles whyte,

Upon his hed a wreth of gold ful fyn.’

The term brother must refer to l. 1147 above. See further, as to Lycurgus, in the note to Leg. Good Women, 2423, in vol. iii. p. 344.

2134. ‘kempe heres, shaggy, rough hairs. Tyrwhitt and subsequent editors have taken for granted that kempe = kemped, combed (an impossible equation); but kempe is rather the reverse of this, and instead of smoothly combed, means bristly, rough, or shaggy. In an Early English poem it is said of Nebuchadnezzar that

“Holghe (hollow) were his yghen anunder (under) campe hores.”

Early Eng. Alliterative Poems, p. 85, l. 1695.

Campe hores = shaggy hairs (about the eyebrows), and corresponds exactly in form and meaning to kempe heres.’—M. See Glossary.

2141. I. e. the nails of the bear were yellow. In Cutts, Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages, p. 345, the bad guess is hazarded that these ‘nails’ were metal studs. But Chaucer was doubtless thinking of the tiger’s skin described in the Thebaid, vi. 722:—

‘Tunc genitus Talao uictori tigrin inanem

Ire iubet, fuluo quae circumfusa nitebat

Margine, et extremos auro mansueuerat ungues.’

Edition: current; Page: [85]

Lewis translates the last line by:—‘The sharpness of the claws was dulled with gold.’

2142.for-old, very old. See next note.

2144.for-blak is generally explained as for blackness; it means very black. Cf. fordrye, very dry, in F. 409.

2148.alaunts, mastiffs or wolf-hounds. Florio has: ‘Alano, a mastiue dog.’ Cotgrave: ‘Allan, a kind of big, strong, thickheaded, and short-snowted dog; the brood where-of came first out of Albania (old Epirus).’ Pineda’s Span. Dict. gives: ‘Alano, a mastiff dog, particularly a bull dog; also, an Alan, one of that nation.’ This refers to the tribe of Alani, a nation of warlike horsemen, first found in Albania. They afterwards became allies, first of the Huns, and afterwards of the Visi-Goths. It is thus highly probable that Alaunt (in which the t is obviously a later addition) signifies ‘an Alanian dog,’ which agrees with Cotgrave’s explanation. Smith’s Classical Dict. derives Alanus, said to mean ‘mountaineer,’ from a Sarmatian word ala.

The alaunt is described in the Maister of the Game, c. 16. We there learn they were of all colours, and frequently white with a black spot about the ears.

2152.Colers of, having collars of. Some MSS. read Colerd of, which I now believe to be right. Collared was an heraldic term, used of greyhounds, &c.; see the New Eng. Dict. This leaves an awkward construction, as torets seems to be governed by with. See Launfal, 965, in Ritson, Met. Rom. i. 212. Cf. ‘as they (the Jews) were tied up with girdles . . . . so were they collared about the neck.’—Fuller’s Pisgah Sight of Palestine, p. 524, ed. 1869.

torets, probably eyes in which rings will turn round, because each eye is a little larger than the thickness of the ring. This appears from Chaucer’s Astrolabe, i. 2. 1—‘This ring renneth in a maner turet,’ i. e. in a kind of eye (vol. iii. p. 178). Warton, in his Hist. E. Poet. ed. 1871, ii. 314, gives several instances. It also meant a small loose ring. Cotgrave gives: ‘Touret, the annulet, or little ring whereby a hawk’s lune is fastened unto the jesses.’ ‘My lityll bagge of blakke ledyr with a cheyne and toret of siluyr’; Bury Wills, ed. Tymms, p. 16. Cf. E. swivel-ring.

2156.Emetrius is not mentioned either by Statius or by Boccaccio; cf. Tes. vi. 29, 17, 16, 41.

2158.diapred, variegated with flowery or arabesque patterns. See diaspre and diaspré in Godefroy’s O.F. Dict.; diasprus and diasperatus in Ducange. In Le Rom. de la Rose, 21205, we find mention of samis diaprés, diapered samites.

2160.cloth of Tars, ‘a kind of silk, said to be the same as in other places is called Tartarine (tartarinum), the exact derivation of which appears to be somewhat uncertain.’—Wright. Cf. Piers the Plowman, B. xv. 224, and my note to the same, C. xvii. 299; also Tartarium in Fairholt.

2187.alle and some, ‘all and singular,’ ‘one and all.’

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2205. See the Teseide, vi. 8; also Our Eng. Home, 22.

2217.And in hir houre. ‘I cannot better illustrate Chaucer’s astrology than by a quotation from the old Kalendrier de Bergiers, edit. 1500, Sign. K. ii. b:—“Qui veult savoir comme bergiers scevent quel planete regne chascune heure du jour et de la nuit, doit savoir la planete du jour qui veult s’enquerir; et la premiere heure temporelle du soleil levant ce jour est pour celluy planete, la seconde heure est pour la planete ensuivant, et la tierce pour l’autre,” &c., in the following order: viz. Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercury, Luna. To apply this doctrine to the present case, the first hour of the Sunday, reckoning from sunrise, belonged to the Sun, the planet of the day; the second to Venus, the third to Mercury, &c.; and continuing this method of allotment, we shall find that the twenty-second hour also belonged to the Sun, and the twenty-third to Venus; so that the hour of Venus really was, as Chaucer says, two hours before the sunrise of the following day. Accordingly, we are told in l. 2271, that the third hour after Palamon set out for the temple of Venus, the Sun rose, and Emily began to go to the temple of Diane. It is not said that this was the hour of Diane, or the Moon, but it really was; for, as we have just seen, the twenty-third hour of Sunday belonging to Venus, the twenty-fourth must be given to Mercury, and the first hour of Monday falls in course to the Moon, the presiding planet of that day. After this, Arcite is described as walking to the temple of Mars, l. 2367, in the nexte houre of Mars, that is, the fourth hour of the day. It is necessary to take these words together, for the nexte houre, singly, would signify the second hour of the day; but that, according to the rule of rotation mentioned above, belonged to Saturn, as the third did to Jupiter. The fourth was the nexte houre of Mars that occurred after the hour last named.’—Tyrwhitt. Thus Emily is two hours later than Palamon, and Arcite is three hours later than Emily.

2221–64. To be compared with the Teseide, vii. 43–49, and vii. 68.

2224.Adoun, Adonis. See Ovid, Met. x. 503.

2233–6. Imitated from Le Rom. de la Rose, 21355–65, q. v.

2238. ‘I care not to boast of arms (success in arms).’

2239.Ne I ne axe, &c., are to be pronounced as ni naxe, &c. So in l. 2630 of this tale, Ne in must be pronounced as nin.

2252.wher I ryde or go, whether I ride or walk.

2253.fyres bete, kindle or light fires. Bete also signifies to mend or make up the fire; see l. 2292.

2271.The thridde hour inequal. ‘In the astrological system, the day, from sunrise to sunset, and the night, from sunset to sunrise, being each divided into twelve hours, it is plain that the hours of the day and night were never equal except just at the equinoxes. The hours attributed to the planets were of this unequal sort. See Kalendrier de Berg. loc. cit., and our author’s treatise on the Astrolabe.’—Tyrwhitt.

2275–360. Cf. the Teseide, vii. 71–92.

2286.a game, a pleasure.

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2288.at his large, at liberty (to speak or to be silent).

2290. ‘E coronò di quercia cereale’; Tes. vii. 74. Cerial should be cerrial, as spelt by Dryden, who speaks of ‘chaplets green of cerrial oak’; Flower and Leaf, 230. It is from cerreus, adj. of cerrus, also ill-spelt cerris, as in the botanical name Quercus cerris, the Turkey oak. The cup of the acorn is prickly; see Pliny, bk. xvi. c. 6.

2294.In Stace of Thebes, in the Thebaid of Statius, where the reader will not find it. Cf. the Teseide, vii. 72.

2303.aboughte, atoned for. Attheon, Actaeon; Ovid, Met. iii. 230.

2313.thre formes. Diana is called Diva Triformis;—in heaven, Luna; on earth, Diana and Lucina, and in hell, Prosperpina. See note to l. 2041.

2388. For the story, see Ovid, Met. iv. 171—189; and, in particular, cf. Rom. de la Rose, 14064, where Venus is said to be ‘prise et lacie.’

2395.lyves creature, creature alive, living creature.

2397. See Compl. of Anelida, 182; cf. Compl. to his Lady, 52.

2405.do, bring it about, cause it to come to pass.

2422–34. From Tes. vii. 39, 40; there are several verbal resemblances here.—Kölbing.

2437. ‘As joyful as the bird is of the bright sun.’ So in Piers Pl., B. x. 153. It was a common proverb.

2438–41. Cf. the Teseide, vii. 67.

2443. Cf. ‘the olde colde Saturnus’; tr. of Boethius, bk. iv. met. 1.

2447–8. From Le Rom. de la Rose, 13022, q. v.

2449. ‘Men may outrun old age, but not outwit (surpass its counsel).’ Cf. ‘Men may the wyse at-renne, but not at-rede.’—Troilus, iv. 1456.

‘For of him (the old man) þu migt leren

Listes and fele þewes,

Þe baldure þu migt ben:

Ne for-lere þu his redes,

For þe elder mon me mai of-riden

Betere þenne of-reden.’

‘For of him thou mayest learn

Arts and many good habits,

The bolder thou mayest be.

Despise not thou his counsels,

For one may out-ride the old man

Better than out-wit.’

The Proverbs of Alfred, ed. Morris, in an Old Eng. Miscellany, p. 136. And see Solomon and Saturn, ed. Kemble, p. 253.

2451.agayn his kynde. According to the Compost of Ptolemeus, Edition: current; Page: [88] Saturn was influential in producing strife: ‘And the children of the sayd Saturne shall be great jangeleres and chyders . . . and they will never forgyve tyll they be revenged of theyr quarell.’—Wright.

2454.My cours. The course of the planet Saturn. This refers to the orbit of Saturn, supposed to be the largest of all, until Uranus and Neptune were discovered.

2455.more power. The Compost of Ptolemeus says of Saturn, ‘He is mighty of hymself. . . . It is more than xxx yere or he may ronne his course. . . . Whan he doth reygne, there is moche debate.’—Wright.

2504.Gigginge, fitting or providing (the shield) with straps. Godefroy gives O. F. guige, guigue, a strap for hanging a buckler over the shoulder, a handle of a shield. Cotgrave gives the fem. pl. guiges, ‘the handles of a target or shield.’ In Mrs. Palliser’s Historic Devices, p. 277, she describes a monument in St. Edmund’s chapel, in Westminster Abbey, on which are three shields, each with ‘the guige or belt of Bourchier knots formed of straps.’ In the M. E. word gigginge, both the g’s are hard, as in gig (in the sense of a two-wheeled vehicle).

‘The Nakkárah or Naqárah was a great kettle-drum, formed like a brazen cauldron, tapering to the bottom, and covered with buffalo-hide, often 3½ or 4 feet in diameter. . . . The crusades naturalised the word in some form or other in most European languages, but in our own apparently with a transfer of meaning. Wright defines naker as “a cornet or horn of brass,” and Chaucer’s use seems to countenance this.’—Marco Edition: current; Page: [89] Polo, ed. Yule, i. 303–4; where more is added. But Wright’s explanation is a mere guess, and should be rejected. There is no reason for assigning to the word naker any other sense than ‘kettle-drum.’ Minot (Songs, iv. 80) is explicit:—

‘The princes, that war riche on raw,

Gert nakers strike, and trumpes blaw.’

Hence a naker had to be struck, not blown. See also Naker in Halliwell’s Dictionary. Boccaccio has the pl. nacchere; see above.

2537. As to the regulations for tournaments, see Strutt’s Sports and Pastimes, bk. iii. c. 1. §§ 16–24; the passages are far too long for quotation. We may, however, compare the following extract, given by Strutt, from MS. Harl. 326. ‘All these things donne, thei were embatailed eche ageynste the othir, and the corde drawen before eche partie; and whan the tyme was, the cordes were cutt, and the trumpettes blew up for every man to do his devoir [duty]. And for to assertayne the more of the tourney, there was on eche side a stake; and at eche stake two kyngs of armes, with penne, and inke, and paper, to write the names of all them that were yolden, for they shold no more tournay.’ And, from MS. Harl. 69, he quotes that—‘no one shall bear a sword, pointed knife, mace, or other weapon, except the sword for the tournament.’

2626.Galgopheye. ‘This word is variously written Colaphey, Galgaphey, Galapey. There was a town called Galapha in Mauritania Tingitana, upon the river Malva (Cellar. Geog. Ant. v. ii. p. 935), which perhaps may have given name to the vale here meant.’—Tyrwhitt. But doubtless Chaucer was thinking of the Vale of Gargaphie, where Actæon was turned into a stag:—

2683.al his chere may mean ‘all his delight, as regarded his heart.’ The Harl. MS. does not insert in before his chere, as Wright would have us believe.

2684. Elles. reads furie, as noted; so in the Teseide, ix. 4. This incident is borrowed from Statius, Theb. vi. 495, where Phœbus sends a hellish monster to frighten some horses in a chariot-race. And see Vergil, Æn. xii. 845.

2686–706. Cf. the Teseide, ix. 7, 8, 47, 13, 48, 38, 26.

2689. The following is a very remarkable account of a contemporary occurrence, which took place at the time when a parliament was held at Cambridge, ad 1388, as told by Walsingham, ed. Riley, ii. 177:—

2696. ‘Then was he cut out of his armour.’ I. e. the laces were cut, to spare the patient trouble. Cf. Statius, Theb. viii. 637–641.

2698.in memorie, conscious.

2710.That . . his, i.e. whose. So which . . his, in Troil. ii. 318.

2711. ‘As a remedy for other wounds,’ &c.

2712, 3.charmes . . . save. ‘It may be observed that the salves, charms, and pharmacies of herbs were the principal remedies of the physician in the age of Chaucer. Save (salvia, the herb sage) was considered one of the most universally efficiently medieval remedies.’—Wright. Hence the proverb of the school of Salerno, ‘Cur moriatur homo, dum salvia crescit in horto?’

2722.nis nat but=is only. aventure, accident.

2725.O persone, one person.

2733.Gree, preëminence, superiority; lit. rank, or a step; answering to Lat. gradus (not gratus). The phrases to win the gree, i. e. to get the first place, and to bear the gree, i. e. to keep the first place, are still in common use in Scotland. See note to the Allit. Destruction of Troy, ed. Panton and Donaldson, l. 1353, and Jamieson’s Dictionary.

2736.dayes three. Wright says the period of three days was the usual duration of a feast among our early forefathers. As far back as the seventh century, when Wilfred consecrated his church at Ripon, he held ‘magnum convivium trium dierum et noctium, reges cum omni populo laetificantes.’—Eddius, Vit. S. Wilf. c. 17.

2743. This fine passage is certainly imitated from the account of the death of Atys in Statius, Theb. viii. 637–651. I quote ll. 642–651, in which Atys fixes his last gaze upon his bride Ismene; as to ll. 637–641, see note to l. 2696 above.

‘Prima uidet, caramque tremens Iocasta uocabat

Ismenen: namque hoc solum moribunda precatur

Uox generi, solum hoc gelidis iam nomen inerrat

Faucibus: exclamant famulae: tollebat in ora

Uirgo manus; tenuit saeuus pudor; attamen ire

Cogitur (indulget summum hoc Iocasta iacenti),

Ostenditque offertque: quater iam morte sub ipsa

Ad nomen uisus, deiectaque fortiter ora

Sustulit: illam unam neglecto lumine coeli

Adspicit, et uultu non exsatiatur amato.’

2745. ‘Also when bloude rotteth in anye member, but it be taken out by skill or kinde, it tourneth into venime’; Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. iv. c. 7. bouk, paunch; A. S. būc.

2749. ‘The vertue Expulsiue is, which expelleth and putteth away that that is vnconuenient and hurtfull to kinde’ [nature]; Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. iii. c. 8.

‘This vertue [given by the soul to the body] hath three parts; one is called naturall, and is in the lyuer: the other is called vitall, or Edition: current; Page: [92]spiritall, and hath place in the heart; the third is called Animal, and hath place in the brayn’; id. c. 14.

‘The vertue that is called Naturalis moueth the humours in the body of a beast by the vaines, and hath a principal place in the liuer’; id. c. 12.

2761.This al and som, i. e. this (is) the al and som, this is the short and long of it. A common expression; cf. F. 1606; Troil. iv. 1193, 1274. With ll. 2761–2808 compare the Teseide, x. 12, 37, 51, 54, 55, 64, 102–3, 60–3, 111–2.

2800.overcome. Tyrwhitt reads overnome, overtaken, the pp. of overnimen; but none of the seven best MSS. have this reading.

2810. The real reason why Chaucer could not here describe the passage of Arcite’s soul to heaven is because he had already copied Boccaccio’s description, and had used it with respect to the death of Troilus; see Troil. v. 1807–27 (stanzas 7, 8, 9 from the end).

2815.ther Mars, &c., where I hope that Mars will, &c.; may Mars, &c.

2822.swich sorwe, so great sorrow. The line is defective in the third foot, which consists of a single (accented) syllable.

2863–962. The whole of this description should be compared with the funeral rites at the burial of Archemorus, as described in Statius, Thebaid, bk. vi; which Chaucer probably consulted, as well as the imitation of the same in Boccaccio’s Teseide. For example, the ‘tree-list’ in ll. 2921–3 is not a little remarkable. The first list is in Ovid, Met. x. 90–105; with which cf. Vergil, Æn. vi. 180; Lucan, Pharsalia, iii. 440–445. Then we find it in Statius, vi. 98–106. After which, it reappears in Boccaccio, Teseide, xi. 22; in Chaucer, Parl. of Foules, 176; in the present passage; in Tasso, Gier. Lib. iii. 75; and in Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 8. There is also a list in Le Roman de la Rose, 1338–1368. Again, we may just compare ll. 2951–2955 with the following lines in Lewis’s translation of Statius:—

‘Around the pile an hundred horsemen ride,

With arms reversed, and compass every side;

They faced the left (for so the rites require);

Bent with the dust, the flames no more aspire.

Thrice, thus disposed, they wheel in circles round

The hallow’d corse: their clashing weapons sound.

Four times their arms a crash tremendous yield,

And female shrieks re-echo through the field.’

Moreover, Statius imitates the whole from Vergil, Æn. xi. 185–196. And Lydgate copies it all from Chaucer in his Sege of Thebes, part 3 (near the end).

2864.Funeral he myghte al accomplice (Elles.); Funeral he mighte hem all complise (Corp., Pet.). The line is defective in the first foot. Edition: current; Page: [93]Funeral is an adjective. Tyrwhitt and Wright insert Of before it, without authority of any kind; see l. 2942.

2874.White gloves were used as mourning at the funeral of an unmarried person; see Brand, Pop. Antiq. ed. Ellis, ii. 283.

2885. ‘And surpassing others in weeping came Emily.’

2891. See the description of old English funerals in Rock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 488: ‘If the deceased was a knight, his helmet, shield, sword, and coat-armour were each carried by some near kinsman, or by a herald clad in his blazoned tabard’; &c.

2903. Compare the mention of ‘blake clothes’ in l. 2884. When ‘master Machyll, altherman, was bered, all the chyrche [was] hangyd with blake and armes [coats-of-arms], and the strett [street] with blake and armes, and the place’; &c.—Machyn’s Diary (Camden Soc.) p. 171.

2923.whippeltree (better wippeltree) is the cornel-tree or dogwood (Cornus sanguinea); the same as the Mid. Low G. wipel-bom, the cornel. Cf. ‘wepe, or weype, the dog-tree’; Hexham. See N. and Q. 7 S. vi. 434.

2958. ‘Chaucer seems to have confounded the wake-plays of his own time with the funeral games of the antients.’—Tyrwhitt. Cf. Troil. v. 304; and see ‘Funeral Entertainments’ in Brand’s Popular Antiquities.

2962.in no disioynt, with no disadvantage. Cf. Verg. Æn. iii. 281.

2967–86. Cf. the Teseide, xii. 3-5.

2968. Lounsbury (Studies in Chaucer, i. 345) proposes to put a full stop at the end of this line, after teres; and to put no stop at the end of l. 2969.

3005. Chaucer again is indebted to Boethius, lib. iii. pr. 10, for what follows: ‘For al þing þat is cleped inperfit, is proued inperfit by þe amenusynge of perfeccioun, or of þing þat is perfit; and her-of comeþ it, þat in euery þing general, yif þat þat men seen any þing þat is inperfit, certys in þilke general þer mot ben somme þing þat is perfit. For yif so be þat perfeccioun is don awey, men may nat þinke nor seye fro whennes þilke þing is þat is cleped inperfit. For þe nature of þinges ne token nat her bygynnyng of þinges amenused and inperfit; but it procediþ of þingus þat ben al hool and absolut, and descendeþ so doune into outerest þinges and into þingus empty and wiþoute fruyt; but, as I haue shewed a litel her-byforne, þat yif þer be a blisfulnesse þat be frele and vein and inperfit, þer may no man doute þat þer nys som blisfulnesse þat is sad, stedfast, and perfit.’—Chaucer (as above), p. 89. (See the same passage in vol. ii. pp. 74, 75.)

3016.seen at ye, see at a glance. Gower, ed. Pauli, i. 33, has:—‘The thing so open is at theye,’ i. e. is so open at the eye, is so obvious. ‘Now is the tyme sen at eye,’ i. e. clearly seen; Coventry Myst. p. 122.

3017–68. Cf. the Teseide, xii. 7-10, 6, 11, 13, 9, 12–17, 19.

3042. So in Troilus, iv. 1586: ‘Thus maketh vertu of necessite’; and in Squire’s Tale, pt. ii. l. 247 (Group F, l. 593): ‘That I made vertu of necessite.’ It is from Le Roman de la Rose, 14217:—

‘S’il ne fait de necessité

Vertu.’

So in Matt. Paris, ed. Luard, i. 20. Cf. Horace, Carm. i. 24:—

‘Durum! sed leuius fit patientia

Quidquid corrigere est nefas.’

Edition: current; Page: [95]

3068. Cf.

‘The time renneth toward right fast,

Joy cometh after whan the sorrow is past.’

Hawes’ Pastime of Pleasure, ed. Wright, p. 148.

3089.oghte to passen right, should surpass mere equity or justice.

3094–102. Cf. the Teseide, xii. 69, 72, 83.

3105. Cf. Book of the Duchesse, 1287–97.

The Miller’s Prologue.

The Miller’s name is Robin (l. 3129).

3110. The reading companye (as in old editions and Tyrwhitt) in place of route makes the line too long.

3115. I.e. the bag is unbuckled, the budget is opened; as when a packman displays his wares. See Group I, l. 26.

3119.To quyte with, to requite the Knight with, for his excellent Tale. This position of with, next its verb, is the almost invariable M. E. idiom. Cf. F. 471, 641, C. 345; Notes to P. Pl., C. i. 133, &c.

3120. ‘Very drunk, and all pale’; cf. A. 4150, H. 30.

3124. I. e. in a loud, commanding voice, such as that of Pilate in the Mystery Plays. In the Chester Plays, Pilate is of rather a meek disposition; but in the York Plays, pp. 270, 307, 320, he is represented as boastful and tyrannical, as is evidently here intended. The expression seems to have been proverbial. Palsgrave has: ‘In a pylates voyce, a haulte voyx’; p. 837. Udall, tr. of Erasmus’ Apophthegms (repr. 1877), last page, has—‘speaking out of measure loude and high, and altogether in Pilates voice.’

3134.a devel wey, in the devil’s name; see Skelton, ed. Dyce, ii. 287; originally, in the way to the devil, with all ill luck. Compare—

‘Hundred, chapitle, court, and shire,

Al hit goth a devel way’ [to the bad].

Polit. Songs, ed. Wright, Camd. Soc. p. 254.

See note to l. 3713 below.

3140.Wyte it, lay the blame for it upon. of Southwerk, i.e. of the Tabard inn.

3143. ‘Made a fool of the wright,’ i.e. of the carpenter; cf. A. 586, 614; also A. 3911, and the note.

3145. The Reeve interferes, because he was a carpenter himself (A. 614). ‘Let alone your ignorant drunken ribaldry.’

3152. A reference to a proverbial expression which is given in Rob. of Brunne’s Handlyng Synne, 1892:—

‘Men sey, ther a man ys gelous,

That “ther ys a kokewolde at hous.” ’

Edition: current; Page: [96]

Compare also Le Roman de la Rose, 9167–9171, which expresses a similar opinion.

3155–6. Tyrwhitt omits these two lines in his text, but admits, in his Notes, that they should have been inserted. The former of the two lines is repeated from l. 277 of the original (but rejected) Prologue to the Legend of Good Women. but-if thou madde, unless thou art going mad.

3161.oon, one, i. e. a cuckold; or, possibly, an ox (l. 3159). As an ox was a ‘horned’ animal, it comes to the same thing, according to the miserable jest so common in our dramatists.

3165.goddes foyson, sufficient abundance, i. e. all he wants, all the affection he expects. there, in his wife.

3166. A defective line; read—Of | the rém’ | nant, &c.

The Milleres Tale.

On the Miller’s Tale, see Anglia, i. 38, ii. 135, vii (appendix), 81; and see the remarks in vol. iii. p. 395.

3188.gnof, churl, lit. a thief; a slang word, of Hebrew origin; Heb. ganāv, a thief, Exod. xxii. 1. The same as the mod. E. gonoph, the epithet applied to Jo in Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xix. Halliwell’s Dict. quotes from The Norfolke Furies, 1623—‘The country gnoffes, Hob, Dick, and Hick, With clubbes and clouted shoon,’ &c. Drant, in his tr. of Horace, Satires, fol. A i, back (1566), has:—‘The chubbyshe gnof that toyles and moyles.’ Todd, in his Illustration of Chaucer, p. 260, says—‘See A Comment upon the Miller’s Tale and the Wife of Bath, 12mo. Lond. 1665, p. 8, [where we find] “A rich gnofe; a rich grub, or miserable caitiff, as I render it; which interpretation, to be proper and significant, I gather by the sence of that antient metre:

The caitiff gnof sed to his crue,

My meney is many, my incomes but few.

This, as I conceive, explains the author’s meaning; which seems no less seconded by that antient English bard:

That gnof, that grub, of pesants blude,

Had store of goud, yet did no gude.” ’

The note in Bell’s Chaucer, connecting it with oaf, is wrong. The carpenter’s name was John (l. 3501).

3190. This shews that students used often to live in lodgings, as is so common at Cambridge, where the number of students far exceeds the number of college-rooms.

3192, 3. Chaucer himself knew something of astrology, as shewn by his numerous references to it. The word conclusions in l. 3193 is the technical name for ‘propositions’ or problems. In his Treatise on the Astrolabe, prologue (l. 9), he says to his son Lowis—‘I purpose to teche thee a certein nombre of conclusions apertening to the same Edition: current; Page: [97] instrument.’ We here learn that one object of astrology was to answer questions relating to coming weather, as well as with reference to almost every other future event.

3195.in certein houres. In astrology, much depended on times; certain times were supposed to be more favourable than others for obtaining solutions of problems. The great book for prognostications of weather was the Calendrier des Bergiers, an English version of which was frequently reprinted as The Shepheards Kalendar. The old almanacks also predicted the weather; see Ben Jonson’s Every Man Out of his Humour, A. i. sc. 1—‘Enter Sordido, with an almanack in his hand.’

3203.hostelrye, lodging. Nicholas had his room to himself; whereas it was usual for two or more students to have a room in common, even in college.

3207.cetewale, zedoary; but commonly, though improperly, applied to valerian (Valeriana pyrenaica); also spelt setwall. Gerarde, in his Herball (ed. 1597, p. 919), says that ‘it hath beene had (and is to this day among the poore people of our northerne parts) in such veneration amongst them, that no brothes, pottages, or phisicall meates are woorthe anything, if setwall were not at one end’; &c. See Britten’s Plant-Names (E. D. S.). See note to B. 1950.

3208.Almageste; Arab. almajistī; from al, the, and majistī, for Gk. μεγίστη, short for μεγίστη σύνταξις, ‘greatest composition,’ a name given to the great astronomical treatise of Ptolemy; hence extended to signify, as here, a text-book on astrology. See Hallam, Middle Ages, c. i. 77. Ptolemy’s work ‘was in thirteen books. He also wrote four books of judicial astrology. He was an Egyptian astrologist, and flourished under Marcus Antoninus.’—Warton. See D. 182, 325, 2289. And see my note to Chaucer’s Astrolabe, i. 17; vol. iii. p. 354.

3209. See Chaucer’s own treatise on The Astrolabe, which he describes. It was an instrument consisting of several flat circular brass plates, with two revolving pointers, used for taking altitudes, and other astronomical purposes.

longinge for, suitable for, belonging to.

3210.augrim-stones, counters for calculation. Augrim is algorism (see New Eng. Dict.), or the Arabic system of arithmetic, performed with the Arabic numerals, which became known in Europe from translations of a work on algebra by the Arab mathematician Abu Ja’far Mohammed Ben Musa, surnamed al-Khowārazmī, or the native of Khwārazm (Khiva). Chaucer speaks of ‘nombres in augrim’; Astrolabe, i. 9. 3.

3212.falding, a kind of coarse cloth; see note on A. 391.

3216.Angelus ad virginem. This hymn occurs in MS. Arundel Edition: current; Page: [98] 248, leaf 154, written about 1260, both in Latin and English, and with musical notes. It is printed, with a facsimile of part of the MS., at p. 695 of the print of MS. Harl. 7334, issued by the Chaucer Society. The first verse of the Latin version runs thus:—

‘Angelus ad uirginem subintrans in conclaue,

Virginis formidinem demulcens, inquit “Aue!

Aue! regina uirginum celi terreque dominum

concipies et paries intacta,

salutem hominum tu, porta celi facta,

medela criminum.” ’

Hence the subject of the anthem is the Annunciation.

3217.the kinges note, the name of some tune or song. There is nothing to identify it with a chant royal, described by Warton, Hist. E. Poet. ii. 221, note b. Warton says that ‘Chaucer calls the chant royal . . . a kingis note.’ But Chaucer says ‘the kinges note,’ which makes all the difference; it is merely a bad guess. A song entitled ‘Kyng villyamis note,’ or ‘King William’s note,’ is mentioned in the Complaint of Scotland (1549), ed. Murray, p. 64.

3220. ‘According to the money provided by his friends and his own income.’

3223.eight-e-ten-e has four syllables; cf. B. 5. Tyrwhitt read it as of two syllables, and inserted I gesse after she was. He duly notes that the words I gesse are ‘not in the MSS.’

3226. ‘And considered himself to be like.’ Tyrwhitt has belike, which he probably took to be an adverb; but this is a gross anachronism. The adv. belike is unknown earlier than the year 1533.

3227.Catoun, Dionysius Cato; see note to G. 688. But Tyrwhitt notes, that ‘the maxim here alluded to is not properly one of Cato’s; but I find it (he says) in a kind of Supplement to the Moral Distichs entitled Facetus, int. Auctores octo morales, Lugd. 1538, cap. iii.

“Duc tibi prole parem sponsam moresque venustam,

Si cum pace velis vitam deducere justam.” ’

He refers to the catalogue of MSS. in Trin. Coll. Dublin, No. 275 (under Urbanus, another name for Facetus); and to Bale, Cent. iii. 17, and Fabricius, Bib. Med. Aetatis.

3230. Note is, in the singular. ‘Crabbed age and youth cannot live together’;—Passionate Pilgrim.

3235.ceynt, girdle; barred, adorned with cross stripes. Warton could not understand the word; but a bar is a transverse stripe on a girdle or belt, as in A. 329, which see.

3236–7.barm-clooth, lap-cloth, i. e. an apron ‘over her loins.’ gore, a triangular slip, used as an insertion to widen a garment in any particular place. The apron spread out towards the bottom, owing rather, it appears, to inserted ‘gores’ below than to pleats above. Or the pleats may be called gores here, from their triangular shape. Edition: current; Page: [99] Cf. A. S. gāra, an angular projection of land, as in Kensington Gore. ‘Gheroni, the gores or gussets of a smocke or shirt’; Florio’s Ital. Dict. See note to B. 1979, and the note to l. 3321 below.

3241.voluper, lit. ‘enveloper’ or ‘wrapper’; hence, kerchief, or cap. In l. 4303, it means a night-cap. In Wright’s Vocabularies, it translates Lat. calamandrum (568, 28), inuolutarium (590, 28), and mafora (594, 19). In the Prompt. Parv. we find: ‘volypere, kerche, teristrum’; and in the Catholicon, ‘volyper, caliend[r]um.’ In Baret’s Alvearie, h. 596, we find: ‘A woman’s cap, hood, or bonet, Calyptra, Caliendrum.’ The tapes of this cap were ‘of the same suit’ as the embroidery of her collar, i. e. were of black silk.

3247. Tyrwhitt at first had ‘for to see,’ but corrected it to ‘on to see,’ i. e. to look upon. Cf. Leg. Good Women, 2425.

3248.pere-ionette, early-ripe pear. Tyrwhitt refers us to a F. poire jeunette, or an Ital. pero giovanetto, i. e. very young pear-tree; but I believe the explanation is as imaginary as are these terms, which I seek for in vain. I take it that he has been misled by a false etymology from F. jeune, Ital. giovane, young, whereas the reference is to the early-ripe pear called in O.F. poire de hastivel (F. hâtiveau); see hastivel in Godefroy. The corresponding E. term is gennitings, applied to apples, but applicable to pears also; and I take the etymology to be from F. Jean, John, because such apples and pears ripen about St. John’s day (June 24), which is very early. Cotgrave has: ‘Hastivel, a soon-ripe apple, called the St. John’s apple.’ Littré, s. v. poire, has: ‘La poire appellée à Paris de messire Jean est celle qu’en Dauphiné et Languedoc l’on nomme de coulis.’ Lacroix (Manners, &c. during the Middle Ages, p. 116) says that, in the thirteenth century, one of the best esteemed pears was the hastiveau, which was ‘an early sort, and no doubt the golden pear now called St. Jean.’ Finally, we learn from Piers Plowman, C. xiii. 221, that ‘pere-Ionettes’ were very sweet and very early ripe, and therefore very soon rotten; see my note to that line. The text, accordingly, compares this young and forward beauty to the newe (i.e. fresh-leaved) early-ripe pear-tree; and there is much propriety in the simile. Of course, this explanation is somewhat of a guess; and perhaps I may add another possible etymology, viz. from jaune, yellow, with reference to the golden colour of the pear. Cf. jaulnette, in Cotgrave, as a name for St. John’s wort, and the form floure-jonettis in the King’s Quair, st. 47.

3251. ‘With silk tassels, and pearls (or pearl-shaped knobs or buttons) made of the metal called latoun.’ Such is Tyrwhitt’s simple explanation. In Riley’s Memorials of London, p. 398, we find that a man was accused of having ‘silvered 240 buttons of latone . . . for Edition: current; Page: [100] purses.’ The notes in Warton are doubly misleading, first confusing latoun with cheklatoun (which are unconnected words), and then quoting the expression ‘perled cloth of gold,’ which is another thing again. As to latoun, see note to C. 350, and cf. A. 699, B. 2067, &c.

3254.popelote, darling, poppet. Not connected with papillon, but with F. poupée and E. puppet. Halliwell gives: ‘Poplet, a term of endearment, generally applied to a young girl: poppet is still in common use.’ Cotgrave has: ‘Popelin, masc. a little finicall darling.’ Godefroy gives: ‘poupelet, m. petit poupon.’

3256. Wright says: ‘The gold noble of this period was a very beautiful coin; specimens are engraved in Ruding’s Annals of the Coinage. It was coined in the Tower of London [as here said], the place of the principal London mint.’ It was worth 6s. 8d., and first coined about 1339. See C. 907, and note.

3258. ‘Sitting on a barn.’ Repeated in C. 397.

3261.bragot, a sweet drink, made of ale and honey fermented together; afterwards, the honey was replaced by sugar and spice. See Bragget in New E. Dict. The full receipt for ‘Braket’ is given in Strutt, Manners and Customs, iii. 74; it contained 4 gallons of ale to a pint of honey. In 1783, it was made of ale, sugar, and spices, and drunk at Easter; Brand, Pop. Antiq. i. 112. Spelt bragot, Palladius on Husbandry, p. 90, l. 812; &c. Of British origin; Welsh bragawd; cf. O. Irish brac, later braich, malt. See also the note on Bragott in the Catholicon, ed. Herrtage.

3262. Cf. ‘An appyll-hurde, pomarium’; Catholicon Anglicum.

3263–4. These two lines are cited by Dryden with approval, in the Preface to his Fables, as being ‘not much behind our present English.’ We are amazed to find that Dryden condemns Chaucer’s lines as unequal; and coolly remarks that ‘equality of numbers . . . was either not known, or not always practised in Chaucer’s age.’ The black-letter editions which Dryden read were, in fact, full of misspelt words; but even in them, he might have found plenty of good lines, if he had not been so prejudiced and (to say the truth) conceited.

3268.prymerole, primrose; as in Gower, C. A. iii. 130. pigges-nye, pig’s eye, a term of endearment; pig’s eyes being (as Tyrwhitt notes) remarkably small. Cf. ‘Waked with a wench, pretty peat, pretty love, and my sweet pretty pigsnie’; Peele, Old Wives’ Tale, ed. Dyce (1883), p. 455, col. 1. And see Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 28, ii. 97, 104. In fact, it is common. Brand, quoting Douce (Illust. of Shak. ii. 151), says that ‘Shadwell not only uses the word pigsney in this sense, but also birdsney [bird’s eye]; see his Plays, i. 357, iii. 385.’ See also pigsney in Todd’s Johnson, where one quotation has the form pigs eie. An ye became a nye; hence the pl. nyes, and even nynon (=eyne), as in Halliwell. See note to P. Plowman, C. xx. 306, where bler-eyed, i.e. blear-eyed, appears as bler-nyed in the B-text.

3269.leggen, to lay. Tyrwhitt has liggen, to lie, which is but poor grammar.

Edition: current; Page: [101]

3274.Oseneye, Oseney, in the suburbs of Oxford, where there was an Abbey of St. Austin’s Canons; cf. l. 3666.

‘My mother was afrayde there had ben theves in her house, and she kryed out haroll alarome (F. elle sescria harol alarme)’; Palsgrave, s. v. crye, p. 501. See Haro in Littré, hara in Schade. Cf. l. 3825; and the note in Dyce’s Skelton, ii. 274.

3291. I. e. St. Thomas of Canterbury.

3299. ‘A clerk would have employed his time ill.’

3308. Defective in the first foot; scan: Crist | es, &c. Tyrwhitt inserts Of before Cristes, and coolly observes, in his Notes, that it is ‘added from conjecture only.’ He might have said, that it makes bad grammar. And it is from such manipulated lines as this that the public forms its judgement of Chaucer’s verse! Is it nothing that all the authorities begin the line alike?

3316.shode, not ‘hair,’ as in Tyrwhitt, but ‘parting of the hair.’

3318. ‘It was the fashion to wear shoes with the upper leather cut into a variety of beautiful designs, resembling the tracery of window-heads, through which the bright colour of the green, blue, or scarlet stocking beneath was shewn to great advantage’;—Rock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 239, with illustrations at p. 240. Poules windowes, windows like those in St. Paul’s Cathedral; hence, designs resembling them. Wright conjectures that there may even be a reference to the rose-window of old St. Paul’s; and he says that examples of such shoes still exist, in the museum of Mr. C. Roach Smith. Good illustrations of these beautifully cut shoes are given in Fairholt’s Costume, pp. 64, 65, who also notes that ‘in Dugdale’s view of old St. Paul’s . . . the rose-window in the transept is strictly analogous in design.’ The Latin name for such shoes was calcei fenestrati, which see in Ducange. Rock also quotes the phrase corium fenestratum from Pope Innocent III. Observe the mention of his scarlet hose in the next line. Cf. note to Rom. of the Rose, 843, in vol. i. p. 423.

3321.wachet, a shade of blue. Tyrwhitt wrongly connects it with the town of Watchet, in Somersetshire. But it is French. Littré, s. v. vaciet, gives: ‘Couleur d’hyacinthe ou vaciet,’ colour of the hyacinth, or bilberry (Lat. uaccinium). Roquefort defines vaciet as a shrub which bears a dark fruit fit for dyeing violet; it is applied, he Edition: current; Page: [102] says, both to the fruit and the dye; and he calls it Vaccinium hysginum. Phillips says watchet is ‘a kind of blew colour.’ Todd’s Johnson cites from Milton’s Hist. of Muscovia, c. 5, ‘watchet or sky-coloured cloth’; and the line, ‘Who stares, in Germany, at watchet eyes,’ tr. of Juvenal, Sat. xiii, wrongly attributed to Dryden. See examples in Nares from Browne, Lyly, Drayton, and Taylor: and, in Richardson, from Beaumont and Fletcher, Hackluyt, Spenser, and Ben Jonson. Cotgrave explains F. pers as ‘watchet, blunket, skie-coloured,’ and couleur perse as ‘skie-colour, azure-colour, a blunket, or light blue.’ See Blunket in the New E. Dict., and my article in Philolog. Soc. Trans. Nov. 6, 1885, p. 329. Webster has ‘watchet stockings,’ The Malcontent, A. iii. sc. 1. Lydgate has ‘watchet blewe’; see Warton, Hist. Eng. Poet. (1840), ii. 280.

3322.poyntes, tagged laces, as in Shakespeare. MS. Hl. has here a totally different line, involving the word gores (cf. l. 3237 above), viz. ‘Schapen with goores in the newe get,’ i. e. in the new fashion.

3329. Tyrwhitt says:—‘The school of Oxford seems to have been in much the same estimation for its dancing, as that of Stratford for its French’; see l. 125. He probably meant this satirically; but it may mean the very opposite, or something nearly so. The Stratford-at-Bow French was excellent of its kind, but unlike that of France (see note to l. 125); and probably the Oxford dancing was, likewise, of no mean quality after its kind, having twenty ‘maneres.’

3332.quinible. Not a musical instrument, as Tyrwhitt supposed, but a kind of voice. It is not singing consecutive fifths upon a plain song, as Mr. Chappell once thought (Pop. Music of the Olden Time, i. 34); but, as afterwards explained by him in Notes and Queries, 4 S. vi. 117, it refers to a very high voice. The quinible was an octave higher than the treble; the quatreble was an octave higher than the mean. The mean was intermediate between the plain-song or tenor (so called from its holding on the notes) and the treble. It means ‘at the extreme pitch of the voice.’ Skelton miswrites it quibyble.

3337.squaymous, squeamish, particular. Tyrwhitt says—‘I know not how to make this sense agree with what follows’ (l. 3807). But it is easy to understand that he was, ordinarily, squeamish, retentive; exceptionally, far otherwise. In the Knight de la Tour, cap. cxiv, p. 155, there is a story of a lady who waited on her old husband, and nursed him under most trying conditions; ‘and unnethe there might Edition: current; Page: [103] haue be founde a woman but atte sum tyme she wolde haue lothed her, or ellys to haue be right scoymous ta haue do the seruice as thes good lady serued her husbonde contynuelly.’ In a version of the Te Deum, composed about 1400, we read—‘Thou were not skoymus of the maidens wombe’; Maskell, Monumenta Ritualia, ii. 141. Cf. ‘squaymose, verecundus,’ Catholicon; ‘skeymowse, or sweymows or queymows, abhominativus’; Prompt. Parv. Spelt squmous (badly), Court of Love, l. 332; and sqymouse in Morris’s reprint of it. See Desdaigneux in Cotgrave. ‘To be squamish, or nice, delicias facere’; Baret’s Alvearie. ‘They that be subiect to Saturne . . . be not skoymous of foule and stinking clothing’; Batman on Bartholomè, lib. 8. c. 23. In Weber’s Metrical Romances, i. 359, we find:

‘Than was the leuedi of the hous

A proude dame and an envieous,

Hokerfulliche missegging,

Squeymous and eke scorning.’

Lay le Freine, ll. 59–62.

These examples quite establish the sense. The derivation is from the rare A.F. escoymous, which occurs in P. Meyer’s ed. of Nicole Bozon (Soc. des Anc. Textes Français), p. 158:—‘si il poy mange e beyt poy, lors est gageous ou escoymous,’ if he eats and drinks little, then is he delicate or nice. Robert of Brunne has the spelling esquaymous; Handlyng Synne, l. 7249.

3338.dangerous, sparing; see the Glossary.

3340. Cutts (Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages, p. 219) seems to think that the clerk went about the parish with his censer, as he sometimes certainly went about with holy water. Warton, on the other hand, says that ‘on holidays it was his business to carry the censer about the church, and he takes this opportunity of casting unlawful glances on the handsomest ladies of the parish.’ Warton is clearly right here, for there is an allusion to the ladies coming forward with the usual offering (l. 3350); cf. note to A. 450. And see Persones Tale, I. 407.

3358.shot-windowe. Brockett’s Northern Glossary gives: ‘Shot-window, a projecting window, common in old houses’; but this may have been copied from Horne Tooke, who seems to have guessed at, and misunderstood, the passage, below, in Gawain Douglas. In the new edition of Jamieson, Mr. Donaldson defines Schot as ‘a window set on hinges and opening like a shutter,’ and explains that, ‘in the West of Scotland, a projecting window is called an out-shot window, whereas a shot-window or shot is one that can be opened or shut like Edition: current; Page: [104] a door or shutter by turning on its hinges.’ It is material to the story that the window here mentioned should be readily opened and shut. The passage in G. Douglas’s tr. of Virgil, prol. to bk. vii, evidently refers to a window of this character, as the poet first says:—

‘Ane schot-wyndo vnschet a lytill on char,’

i. e. I unshut the shot-window, and left it a little ajar; and he goes on to say that the weather was so cold that he soon shut it again—

‘The schot I clossit, and drew inwart in hy.’

See also ll. 3695, 6 below. In the next line, upon merely means ‘in’ or ‘formed in.’

It is curious that, in Bell’s Chaucer, a quotation is given from the Ballad of Clerk Saunders (Border Minstrelsy, vol. ii.) to shew that shot-window cannot mean ‘shut window.’ But it does not prove that it cannot mean ‘hinge-shutting window,’ as I have shewn the right sense to be.

‘Then she has ta’en a crystal wand,

And she has stroken her troth thereon;

She has given it him out at the shot-window,

With mony a sad sigh and heavy groan.’

3361. Tyrwhitt absurdly says that ll. 3361, 3362 should be broken into four short verses, and that ladý (sic) rimes with be! In Bell’s edition, they are printed in small type! They are just ordinary lines; and be (pronounced nearly as modern bay) certainly never rimed with lády—nor yet with la-dý—in Chaucer’s time, when the final y was sounded like the modern ee in meet, and would rather have rimed with a word like my. It is a mere whim.

3375.menes, intermediate people, go-betweens; see Mene, sb., in Gloss. to P. Plowman, with numerous references. Brocage is the employment of a ‘broker’ or agent, and so means much the same. See Brokage in New E. Dict., and Brocage in Gloss. to P. Plowman.

3377.brokkinge, with quick regular interruptions, quavering, in a ‘broken’ manner. See Brock in New E. Dict.

3379.wafres, wafers. ‘They (F. gaufres) are usually sold at fairs, and are made of a kind of batter poured into an iron instrument, which shuts up like a pair of snuffers. It is then thrust into the fire, and when it is with-drawn and opened, the gaufre, or wafer, is taken out and eaten “piping hote out of the glede,” as here described.’—Note in Bell’s Chaucer.

3380.mede, reward, money; distinct from meeth, mead, in l. 3378. The sense of mede is very amply illustrated in P. Plowman. L. 3380 intimates that, as she lived in a town, she could spend money at any time.

3382. A side-note, in several MSS., says: ‘Unde Ouidius: Ictibus agrestis.’ But the quotation is not from Ovid.

3384. The parish-clerks often took part in the Mystery Plays. The part of Herod was an important one; cf. Hamlet, iii. 2. 15.

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3387. ‘I presume this was a service that generally went unrewarded.’—Wright. It was like ‘piping in an ivy-leaf’; see A. 1838.

3449. The carpenter naturally invokes St. Frideswide, as there was a priory of St. Frideswide at Oxford, the church of which has become the present cathedral. The shrine of St. Frideswide is still to be seen, though in a fragmentary state, at the east end of the cathedral, on its former site near the original chancel-arches and wall of her early stone church. In this line, seint-e has the fem. suffix.

3451.astromye is obviously intentional, as it fills up the line, and is repeated six lines below. The carpenter was not strong in technical terms. In like manner, he talks of ‘Nowelis flood’; see note to l. 3818. The reading astronomy just spoils both lines, and loses the jest.

3456. ‘That knows nothing at all except his Creed.’

3457. This story is told of Thales by Plato, in his Theaetetus; it also occurs, says Tyrwhitt, in the Cento Novelle Antiche, no. 36. It has often been repeated, and may now be found in James’s edition of Æsop, 1852, Fable 170.

3469. Nearly repeated from A. 545.

3479. ‘I defend thee with the sign of the cross from elves and living creatures.’ At the same time, the carpenter would make the sign over him. Wightes does not mean ‘witches,’ as Tyrwhitt thought, but ‘creatures.’ Cf. l. 3484.

3480.night-spel, night-spell, a charm said at night to keep off evil spirits. The carpenter says it five times, viz. towards the four corners of the house and on the threshold. The charm is contained in lines 3483–6, and is partly intentional nonsense, as such charms often were. See several unintelligible examples in Cockayne’s Leechdoms, iii. 286. The object of saying it four times towards the four corners of the house was to invoke the four evangelists, just as in the child’s hymn still current, which is, in fact, a charm:—

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‘Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,

Bless the bed that I lie on;

Four angels round my bed,’ &c.

Lines 3483–4 are clear, viz. ‘May Jesus Christ and St. Benedict bless this house from every wicked creature.’ As this is a reproduction of a popular saying, it is not necessary that the lines should scan; still, they run correctly, if we pronounce seynt as se-ynt, as elsewhere (note to A. 509), and if we take both to be defective at the beginning. The last two lines are mere scraps of older charms. It is just possible that for nightes verye1 represents an A. S. for nihte werigum, ‘against the evil spirits of night’; against whom ‘the white Paternoster’ is to be said. The reading white is perfectly correct. There really was a prayer so called. See Notes and Queries, 1 Ser. xi. 206, 313; whence we learn that the charm above quoted, beginning ‘Matthew, Mark,’ &c., resembles one in the Patenôtre Blanche, to be found in the (apocryphal) Enchiridion Leonis Papae (Romae, mdclx), where occurs:—‘Petite Patenôtre Blanche, que Dieu fit, que Dieu dit, que Dieu mit en Paradis. Au soir m’allant coucher, je trouvis trois anges à mon lit, couchès, un aux pieds, deux au chevet’; &c. Here is a charm that mentions it, quoted in Notes and Queries, 1 Ser. viii. 613:—

‘White Paternoster, Saint Peter’s brother,

What hast thou i’ th’ t’one hand? White Booke leaves.

What hast i’ th’ t’other hand? Heven-Yate Keyes.

Open Heaven-Yates, and steike [shut] Hell-Yates.

And let every crysome-child creepe to its owne mother.

White Paternoster! Amen.’

The mention of St. Peter’s brother is remarkable. It is a substitution for the older ‘Saint Peter’s sister’ here mentioned. Again, St. Peter’s sister is a substitution for St. Peter’s daughter, who is a well-known saint, usually called St. Petronilla, or, in English, Saint Parnell, once a very common female name, and subsequently a surname. Her day is May 31, and she was said to cure the quartan ague; see Brand, Pop. Antiq., ed. Ellis, i. 363. A curious passage in the Ancren Riwle, p. 47, gives directions for crossing oneself at night, and particularly mentions the use of four crosses on ‘four halves,’ or in the original, ‘vour creoices a uour halue’; with the remark ‘Crux fugat omne malum,’ &c. For ‘Rural Charms,’ see the chapter in Brand’s Popular Antiquities, vol. iii.; and see the charm against rats in Political and Love Poems, ed. Furnivall, p. 23. I may add that, in Kemble’s Solomon and Saturn, p. 136, is an A. S. poem, in which the Paternoster is personified, and destroys evil spirits. In Longfellow’s Golden Legend, § II., Lucifer is made to say a Black Paternoster.

3507. ‘That, if you betray me, you shall go mad (as a punishment).’

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3509.labbe, chatterbox, talkative person. In P. Plowm. C. xiii. 39, we find the phrase ‘ne labbe it out,’ i. e. do not chatter about it, do not utter it foolishly. In the Romans of Partenay, ed. Skeat, 3751, we find: ‘a labbyng tonge’; and Chaucer has elsewhere: ‘a labbing shrewe,’ E. 2428. Sewel’s Du. Dict. (1754) gives: ‘labben, or labbekakken, to blab, chat’; also ‘labbekak, a tattling gossip, a common blab’; and ‘labbery, chat, idle talk.’

3512.him, i. e. Christ. The story of the Harrowing (or despoiling) of Hell by Christ is derived from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, and is a favourite and common subject in our older authors. It describes the descent of Christ into hell, after His crucifixion, in order to release the souls of the patriarchs, whom He takes with Him to paradise. It is given at length in P. Plowman, Text C. Pass. xxi; and was usually introduced into the mystery plays; see the Coventry Mysteries, the York Plays, &c. See also Cursor Mundi, 17,863; Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 12; &c.

3516. ‘On Monday next, at the end of the first quarter of the night,’ i. e. about 9 p.m. Cf. ll. 3554, 3645.

3530. See Ecclesiasticus, xxxii. 24 [Eng. version, 19]; this was not said by ‘Solomon,’ but by Jesus, son of Sirach. It is quoted again in the Tale of Melibeus; B. 2193.

3539. ‘The trouble endured by Noah and his company.’ Noë is the form in the Latin Vulgate version. The allusion is to the intentionally comic scene introduced into the mystery plays, as, e. g. in the Chester Plays, the Towneley Plays, and the York Plays, in which Noah and his sons (felawshipe) have much ado to induce Noah’s wife to enter the ark; and, in the course of the scene, she gives Noah a sound box on the ear.

3548.kimelin, a large shallow tub; especially one used for brewing; see Prompt. Parv. p. 274; and Kimnell in Miss Jackson’s Shropshire Glossary.

3554.pryme, i. e. about 9 a.m. See note to F. 73.

3565. This shows that the hall was open to the roof, with cross-beams, and that the stable was attached to it, between it and the garden.

3590.sinne, i. e. venial sin; see I. 859, 904, 920.

3598. Evidently a common proverb.

3616. It is obvious that the first foot is defective.

3624.His owne hand, with his own hand. Tyrwhitt points out the same idiom in Gower, ed. Pauli, ii. 83:—

‘The craft Minerve of wolle fond

And made cloth her owne hond.’

And again, id. ii. 310:—

‘Thing which he said his owne mouth.’

3625.ronges, rungs, rounds, steps; stalkes, upright pieces. To Edition: current; Page: [108] climb by the rungs and the stalks means to employ the hands as well as the feet. A rung was also called a stayre (stair); and stalke is the diminutive of stele, a handle, which was another name for the upright part of a ladder. In Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, C. 513, the author complains that some people cannot tell the difference between a stele and a stayre; and, in fact, the Glossary does not point it out. In the Ancren Riwle, p. 354, we find mention of the two ladder-stales that are upright to the heaven, between which stales the tinds (or rungs) are fastened. This makes the sense perfectly clear.

3637.a furlong-way, a few minutes; exactly, two minutes and a half, at the rate of three miles an hour.

3638. ‘Now say a Paternoster, and keep silence.’ Accordingly, the carpenter ‘says his devotion.’ ‘Clom!’ is a word imposing silence, like ‘mum!’ So in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 266, we find: ‘Yef ye me wylleth y-here, habbeth amang you clom and reste’; i. e. if you wish to hear me, keep among you silence and rest.

3645.corfew-tyme, probably 8 p.m. The original time for ringing the curfew-bell, as a signal for putting out fires and lights, was eight o’clock. The custom has been kept up in some places till the present day; the hour for it is sometimes 8 p.m., and sometimes 9 p.m. In olden times, mention is usually made of the former of these hours; see Brand, Pop. Antiq. ii. 220; Prompt. Parv. p. 110. People invariably went to bed very early; see l. 3633.

3655. The service of lauds followed that of nocturns; the latter originally began at midnight, but usually somewhat later. The time indicated seems to have been just before daybreak. ‘These nocturns should begin at such a time as to be ended just as morning’s twilight broke, so that the next of her services, the lauds, or matutinae laudes, might come on immediately after.’—Rock, Church of our Fathers, iii. 2. 6. From l. 3731, we learn, however, that the night was still ‘as dark as pitch.’ Perhaps the time was between two and three o’clock, as Wright suggests.

3668.the grange, lit. granary; but the term was applied to a farmhouse and granary on an estate belonging to a feudal manor or (as here) to a religious house. As the estate often lay at some distance from the abbey, it might be necessary for the carpenter, who went to cut down trees, to stay at the grange for the night. Cf. note to P. Pl. C. xx. 71; and Prompt. Parv. (s. v. grawnge).

3675.at cockkes crowe; cf. l. 3687. The expression in l. 3674 must refer to Monday: the ‘cock-crow’ refers to Tuesday morning, when it was still pitch-dark (l. 3731). The time denoted by the ‘first cock-crow’ is very vague; see the Chapter on Cock-crowing in Brand’s Pop. Antiquities. The ‘second cock-crow’ seems to be about 3 a.m., as in Romeo and Juliet, iv. 4. 4; and the ‘first cock-crow,’ shortly after midnight, as in K. Lear, iii. 4. 121, 1 Hen. IV. ii. 1. 20. An early mention of the first cock occurs in Ypomedon, 783, in Weber’s Met. Romances, ii. 309:—‘And at the fryst cokke roos he.’ The clearest Edition: current; Page: [109] statement is in Tusser’s Husbandrie, sect. 74 (E. D. S. p. 165), where he says that cocks crow ‘At midnight, at three, and an hower ere day,’ which he afterwards explains by ‘past five.’

3692.trewe-love, (probably) a leaf of herb-paris; in the efficacy of which he had some superstitious belief. True-love is sometimes used as an abbreviation of true-love knot, as in the last stanza of the Court of Love; and such is the case here. True-love knots were of various shapes; see pictures of four such in Ogilvie’s Dictionary. Some had four loops, which gave rise to the name true-love as applied to herb-paris. Gerarde’s Herball, 1597, p. 328, thus describes herb-paris (Paris quadrifolia):—At the top of the stalk ‘come foorth fower leaves directly set one against another, in manner of a Burgonnion crosse or a true love knot; for which cause among the auncients it hath beene called herbe Truelove.’ It is still called True Love’s Knot in Cumberland.

3700. Note the rime of tó me with cinam-ó-me.

3708.Iakke, Jack, here an epithet of a fool, like Iankin (B. 1172); and see note to B. 4000. Cf. E. zany.

3709. ‘It wilt not be (a case of) come-kiss-me.’ Chaucer has ba, to kiss, D. 433; and come-ba-me, i.e. come kiss me, is here used as a phrase; so that the line simply means ‘you certainly will not get a kiss!’ Observe the rime with bla-me. Bas also meant to kiss, and Skelton uses the words together (ed. Dyce, i. 22):—

‘With ba, ba, ba, and bas, bas, bas,

She cheryshed hym, both cheke and chyn’;

i.e. with repeated kisses on cheek and chin. So again (i. 127) we find: ‘bas me, buttyng, praty Cys!’ And so again (ii. 6): ‘bas me, swete Parrot, bas me, swete, swete!’ Further illustration is afforded by Burton’s Anat. of Melancholy, pt. 3. sec. 2. mem. 4. subsec. 1: ‘Yea, many times, this love will make old men and women . . . dance, come-kiss-me-now, mask, and mum.’ This complete explanation of an old crux was first given by Mr. Ellis, in 1870, in his Early Eng. Pronunciation, Edition: current; Page: [110] p. 715, who notes that the reading com ba me is fairly well supported; see his Critical Note. Several MSS. turn it into compame, which is clearly due to the influence of the familiar word companye, which repeatedly ends a line in Chaucer. Mr. Ellis well remarks—‘Com ba me! was probably the name of a song, like . . . the modern “Kiss me quick, and go, my love.” It is also probable that Absolon’s speech contained allusions to it, and that it was very well known at the time.’

The curious part of the story is that, in 1889, I adopted the same reading independently, and for precisely similar reasons. But Mr. Ellis was before me, by nineteen years. See l. 3716 below.

3726.thyn ore, thy favour, thy grace; the words ‘grant me’ being understood. It is not uncommon.

‘Syr Lybeaus durstede [thirsted] sore,

And seyde, Maugys, thyn ore,

To drynke lette me go.’

Ritson, Met. Romances, ii. 57.

‘I haue siked moni syk, lemmon, for thin ore’;

Böddeker’s Altengl. Dichtungen, p. 174.

See Specimens of E. Eng., Part I; Glossary to Havelok; &c.

3728.com of, i. e. be quick; like Have do, have done! We now say ‘come on!’ But strictly, come on means ‘begin,’ and come off means ‘make an end.’

3751. ‘If it be not so that, rather than possess all this town, I would like to be avenged.’

3770.viritoot must be accepted as the reading; the reading verytrot in MS. Hl. gives a false rime, as the oo in woot is long. The meaning is unknown; but the context requires the sense of ‘upon the move,’ or ‘astir.’ My guess is that viri- is from F. virer, to turn (cf. E. virelay), and that toot represents O. F. tot (L. totum, F. tout), all; so that viritoot may mean ‘turn-all.’ Cotgrave gives virevoulte, ‘a veere, whirle a round gamball, friske, or turne,’ like the Portuguese viravolta. The form verytrot (very trot) is clearly due to an attempt to make sense. MS. Cam. has merytot, possibly with reference to M. E. merytoter, a swing Edition: current; Page: [111] (Catholicon); which is derived from mery, merry, and toteren, to totter, oscillate. In the North of England, a swing is still called a merry-trotter (corruption of merry-totter), as noted by Haliiwell, who remarks that ‘the meritot is mentioned by Chaucer,’ which is not the fact. Both these ‘glosses’ give the notion of movement, as this is obviously the general sense implied. Whatever the reading may be, we can see the sense, viz. ‘some gay girl (euphemism for light woman) has brought you thus so early astir’; and Gervase accordingly goes on to say, ‘you know what I mean.’

Ed. 1561 has berytote, a misprint for verytote.

3771. Here as elsewhere, se-ynt is dissyllabic; several MSS. have seinte, but this can hardly be right. For Note, MSS. Pt. Hl. have Noet, meaning St. Neot, whose day is Oct. 28, and whose name remains in St. Neot’s, in Cornwall, and St. Neot’s, in Huntingdonshire. He died about 877; see Wright’s Biogr. Brit. Litt., A. S. Period, p. 381. The spelling Note is remarkable, as the mod. E. name (pronounced as Neet, riming with feet) suggests the A. S. form Nēot, and M. E. Neet.

3782. MS. Hl. has fo, which is silently altered to fote by Bell and Wright. Tyrwhitt also has fote, which he found in the black-letter editions. The reading foo is probably quite right, and is an intentional substitution for foot. It is notorious that oaths were constantly made unmeaning, to avoid a too open profanity. In Chaucer, we have cokkes bones, H. 9, I. 29, and Corpus bones, C. 314. Another corruption of a like oath is ’s foot, Shak. Troil. ii. 3. 6, which is docked at the other end. It is poor work altering MSS. so as to destroy evidence. Cristes foo might mean ‘the devil’; but this is unlikely.

3785.stele, handle; i. e. by the cold end, which served as a handle. See note to D. 949. stēle, i. e. steel, would give a false rime.

3811. Tyrwhitt inserted al before aboute in his text, but withdrew it in his notes. The A. S. has hand-brǣd, but the M.E. hand-e-brede had at least three syllables, if not four. This is shewn by MS. spellings and by the metre, and still more clearly by Wyclif’s Bible, which has: ‘a spanne, that is, an handibreede,’ Ezek. xl. 5 (later version). It may have been formed by analogy with M. E. handiwerk (A. S. hand-geweorc) and handewrit (A. S. hand-gewrit). But the form is handbrede in Palladius on Husbandry, p. 80, l. 536.

3818.Nowelis flood is the mistake of the illiterate carpenter for Noes flood; see it again in l. 3834, where he is laughed at for having used the expression in his previous talks with the clerk and his wife. It is on a par with his astromye (note to l. 3451). He was less familiar with the Noe of the Bible than with the Nowel of the carolsingers Edition: current; Page: [112] at Christmas; see F. 1255. The editors carefully ‘correct’ the poet. In l. 3834, Nowélis helps the scansion, whilst Noes spoils the line, which has to be ‘amended.’ The readings are: E. Hn. as in the text; Cm. Pt. Ln. the Nowels flood; Pt. the Noes flood; Hl. He was agast and feerd of Noes flood. Tyrwhitt actually reads; He was agast-e so of Noes flood; regardless of the fact that agast has no final -e. The carpenter’s mistake is the more pardonable when we notice that Noë was sometimes used, instead of Noël, to mean ‘Christmas.’ For an example, see the Poètes de Champagne, Reims, 1851, p. 146.

3821. This singular expression is from the French. Tyrwhitt cites:—

‘Ainc tant come il mist a descendre,

Ne trouva point de pain a vendre,’

i. e. he found no bread to sell in his descent. His reference is to the Fabliaux, t. ii. p. 282; Wright refers, for the same, to the fabliau of Aloul, in Barbazan, l. 591. I suppose the sense is, ‘he never stopped, as if to transact business.’

3822. E. Hn. celle; rest selle. The word celle might mean ‘chamber.’ There was an approach to the roof, which they had reached by help of a ladder; and the three tubs were hung among the balks which formed the roof of the principal sitting-room below. But it is difficult to see how the word celle could be applied to the chief room in the house. Tyrwhitt explains selle as ‘door-sill or threshold’; but we must bear in mind that the usual M. E. form of sill was either sille or sulle, from A. S. syll. The spelling with s proves nothing, since Chaucer undoubtedly means ‘cell’ in A. 1376, where Cm. Hl. have selle, and in B. 3162, where three MSS. (Cp. Pt. Ln.) all read selle again. Why the carpenter should have arrived at the door-sill, I do not know.

Nevertheless, upon further thoughts, I accept Tyrwhitt’s view, with some modification. We find that Chaucer actually uses Kentish forms (with e for A. S. y) elsewhere, for the sake of a rime. A clear case is that of fulfelle, in Troil. iii. 510. This justifies the dat. form selle (A. S. sylle). But we must take selle to mean ‘flooring’ or ‘boarding,’ and floor to mean the ground beneath it; just as we find, in Widegren’s Swedish Dictionary, that syll means ‘the timber next the ground.’ I would therefore read selle, with the sense of ‘flooring’; and I explain floor by ‘flat earth.’ In the allit. Morte Arthure, 3249, flores signifies ‘plains.’ In Gawayn and the Grene Knyght, 55, sille means ‘floor.’

3841. Observe the form cape, as a variant of gape, both here and in l. 3444 (see footnotes); and in Troil. v. 1133.

The Reve’s Prologue.

3855. For laughen, Tyrwhitt has laughed, and in l. 3858 has the extraordinary form lought, but he corrects the former of these in his Edition: current; Page: [113] Notes. The verb was originally strong; see examples in Stratmann, s. v. hlahhen.

3857. Repeated, nearly, in F. 202; see note.

3864.so theek, for so thee ik, so may I thrive, as I hope to thrive. The Reve came from Norfolk, and Chaucer makes him use the Northern ik for I in this expression, and again in l. 3867 (in the phrase ik am), and in l. 3888 (in the phrase ik have), but not elsewhere; whence it would seem that ik for I was then dying out in Norfolk; it has now died out even in the North. Both the Host and the Canon’s Yeoman use the Southern form so theech; see C. 947, G. 929. Cf. so the ik, P. Pl., B. v. 228.

3865. To blear (lit. to dim) one’s eye was to delude, hoodwink, or cheat a man. So also blered is thyn yë, H. 252.

3868.gras-time, the time when a horse feeds himself in the fields. My fodder is now forage, my food is now such as is provided for me; I am like a horse in winter, whose food is hay in a stable. Thynne animadverts upon this passage (Animadversions, p. 39), and says that forage means ‘such harde and olde prouisione as ys made for horses and cattle in winter.’ He remarks, justly, that forage is but loosely used in Sir Thopas, B. 1973.

3869. I take this to mean—‘my old years write (mark upon me) this white head,’ i. e. turn me grey.

3870. ‘My heart is as old (lit. mouldy) as my hairs are.’ Mouled is the old pp. out of which we have made the mod. E. mould-y, adding -y by confusion with the adj. formed from mould, the ground. It is fully explained in the Addenda to my Etym. Dict. 2nd ed. p. 818; and the verb moulen, to grow mouldy, occurs in B. 32.

3871. ‘Unless I grow like a medlar, which gets worse all the while, till it be quite rotten, when laid up in a heap of rubbish or straw.’

3876.hoppen, dance; alluding to Luke vii. 32, where Wyclif has: ‘we han sungun to you with pipis, and ye han not daunsid.’

3877.nayl, a hindrance; like a nail that holds a box from being opened, or that catches a man’s clothes, and holds him back.

3882. For olde, T. has cold, I cannot guess why: smouldering ashes are more likely to be hot. Old ashes mean ashes left after a fire has died down, in which, if raked together, fire can be long preserved. ‘Still, in our old ashes, is fire collected.’ See the parallel passage in Troilus, ii. 538.

In Soliman and Persida (Dodsley’s Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, v. 339) we find:—

‘as the fire

That lay, with honour’s hand raked up in ashes,

Revives again to flames.’

We are reminded of line 92 in Gray’s Elegy:—‘Ev’n in our ashes live their wonted fires’; but Gray himself tells us that he was thinking, not of Chaucer, but of Sonnet 169 (170) of Petrarch:—

‘Ch’i veggio nel pensier, dolce mio fuoco,

Fredda una lingua e due begli occhi chiusi,

Rimaner doppo noi pien di faville’—

i. e. which (love-songs) I see in thought, O my sweet flame, when (my) one tongue is cold, and (your) two fine eyes are closed, remaining after us, full of sparkles.

y-reke, raked or heaped together, collected. Not explained by Wright or Morris; Tyrwhitt explains it by ‘smoking,’ and takes it to be a present participle, which is impossible. It is the pt. t. of the scarce strong verb reken, pt. t. rak, pp. y-reken, y-reke, of which the primary notion was to ‘gather together.’ It occurs, just once, in Gothic, in the translation of Romans, xii. 20: ‘haurja funins rikis ana haubith is,’ i. e. coals of fire shalt thou heap together on his head. It is the very verb from which the sb. rake is derived. See Rake in my Etym. Dict., and the G. Rechen in Kluge. The notion is taken from the heaping together of smouldering ashes to preserve the fire within. Lydgate copies this image in his Siege of Troye, ed. 1555, fol. B 4:—

‘But inward brent of hate and of enuy

The hoote fyre, and yet there was no smeke [smoke],

So couertly the malyce was yreke.’

3895.chimbe. ‘The prominency of the staves beyond the head of the barrel. The imagery is very exact and beautiful’; Tyrwhitt. ‘Chime (pronounced choim), sb. a stave of a cask, barrel, &c.’; Leicestershire Glossary (E. D. S.) Urry gives ‘Chimbe, the Rim of a Cooper’s Vessel on the outside of the Head. The ends of the Staves from the Grooves outward are called the Chimes.’ Hexham’s Du. Dict. has: ‘Kimen, Kimmen, the Brimmes of a tubb or a barrill.’ Sewel’s Du. Dict. has: ‘Kim, the brim of a barrel.’ The Bremen Kimm signifies not only the rim of a barrel, but the edge of the horizon; cf. Dan. Kiming, Kimming, the horizon. See further in New E. Dict.

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3901–2.what amounteth, to what amounts. What shul, why must.

3904. Tyrwhitt refers us to Ex sutore medicus, Phædrus, lib. i. fab. 14; and to ex sutore nauclerus, alluded to by Pynson the printer, at the end of his edition of Littleton’s Tenures, 1525 (Ames, p. 488).

3906.Depeford (lit. deep ford), Deptford; just beyond which is Grenewich, Greenwich. Thus the pilgrims had not advanced very far, considering that the Knight and Miller had both told a tale. They had made an early start, and it was now ‘half-way prime.’ ‘Deptford,’ says Dr. Furnivall, ‘is 3 miles down the road [or a little more, it depends upon whence we reckon]; and, as only the Reeve’s Tale and the incomplete Cook’s Tale follow in Group A, we must suppose that Chaucer meant to insert here [at the end of Group A] the Tales of some, at least, of the Five City-Mechanics and the Ploughman . . . . in order to bring his party to their first night’s resting-place, Dartford, 15 miles from London’; Temp. Preface, p. 19. ‘The deep ford,’ I may remark, must have been the one through the Ravensbourn. Deptford and Greenwich (where, probably, Chaucer was then residing) lay off the Old Kent Road, on the left; hence the host points them out.

half-way prime. That is, half-past seven o’clock; taking prime to mean the first quarter of the day, or the period from 6 to 9 a.m. It was also used to denote the end of that period, or 9 a.m., as in B. 4387, where the meaning is certain. In my Preface to Chaucer’s Astrolabe, (E. E. T. S.), I said: ‘What prime means in all cases, I do not pretend to say. It is a most difficult word, and I think was used loosely. It might mean the beginning or end of a period, and the period might be an hour, or a quarter of a day. I think it was to obviate ambiguity that the end of the period was sometimes expressed by high prime, or passed prime, or prime large; we also find such expressions as half prime, halfway prime, or not fully prime, which indicate a somewhat long period. For further remarks, see Mr. Brae’s Essay on Chaucer’s Prime, in his edition of the Astrolabe, p. 90. I add some references for the word prime, which may be useful. We find prime in Kn. Ta. 1331 (A. 2189); Mill. Ta. 368 (A. 3554); March. Ta. 613 (E. 1857); Pard. Ta. 200 (C. 662); Ship. Ta. 206 (B. 1396); Squi. Ta. 65 (F. 73); fully prime, Sir Topas, 114 (B. 2015); halfway prime, Reve’s Prol. 52 (A. 3906); passed prime, Ship. Ta. 88 (B. 1278), Fre. Ta. 178 (D. 1476); prime large, Squi. Ta. ii. 14 (F. 360). See also prime in Troilus, ii. 992, v. 15; passed prime, ii. 1095 (in the same); an houre after the prime, ii. 1557.’ Cf. notes to F. 73, &c.

3911.somdel, in some degree. sette his howve, the same as set his cappe, i. e. make him look foolish; see notes to A. 586, 3143. To come behind a man, and alter the look of his head-gear, was no doubt a common trick; now that caps are moveable, the perennial joy of the street-boy is to run off with another boy’s cap.

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3912. ‘For it is allowable to repel (shove off) force by force.’ The Ellesmere MS. has here the sidenote—‘vim vi repellere.’

3919.stalke, (here) a bit of stick; Lat. festuca. balke, a beam; Lat. trabs. See the Vulgate version of Matt. vii. 3.

The Reves Tale.

The origin of this Tale was a French Fabliau, like one that was first pointed out by Mr. T. Wright, and printed in his Anecdota Literaria, p. 15. Another similar one is printed in Méon’s edition of Barbazan’s Fabliaux, iii. 239 (Paris, 1808). Both were reprinted for the Chaucer Society, in Originals and Analogues, &c., p. 87. See further in vol. iii. p. 397.

3921.Trumpington. The modern mill, beside the bridge over the Granta, between the villages of Trumpington and Grantchester, is familiar to all Cambridge men; but this mill and bridge are both comparatively modern, being placed upon an artificial channel. The old ‘bridge’ is that over the old river-bed, somewhat nearer Trumpington; the ‘brook’ is this old course of the Granta, which is hereabouts very narrow and circuitous; and the mill stood a quarter of a mile above the bridge, at the spot marked ‘Old Mills’ on the ordnance-map, though better known as ‘Byron’s pool,’ which is the old mill-pool. The fen mentioned in l. 4065 is probably the field between the Old Mills and the road, which must formerly have been fen-land; though Lingay Fen may be meant, which covers the space between Bourne Brook (flowing into the Granta at the Old Mills) and the Cambridge and Bedford Railway. We like to think that Chaucer saw the spot himself; but he certainly seems to have thought that Trumpington was somewhat further from Cambridge than it really is, as he actually makes the clerks to have been benighted there; and he might easily have learnt some local particulars from his wife’s friend, Lady Blaunche de Trumpington, or from Sir Roger himself. In any case, it is interesting to find him thus boldly assigning a known locality to a mill which he had found in a French fabliau.

3927.Pypen, play the bag-pipe; see A. 565. The Reeve is clearly trying to make his description suit the Miller in the company, whom it is his express object to tease. Hence he says he could wrestle well (cf. A. 548) and could play the bag-pipe.

nettes bete, mend nets; he knew how to net.

3928.turne coppes, turn cups, make wooden cups in a turning-lathe; not a very difficult operation. It is curious that Tyrwhitt gave up trying to explain this simple phrase. In Riley’s Memorials of London, p. 666, we find that, in 1418, when the English were besieging Rouen, it was enacted that ‘the turners should have 4s. for every hundred of 2,500 cups, in all 100s.’: so that a wooden cup could be turned at the cost of a halfpenny.

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3929. Printed pavade by Tyrwhitt, pauade by Thynne (ed. 1532), but panade in Wright. Levins’ Manipulus Vocabulorum (1570) has: ‘A pauade,pugio’; but this is probably copied from Thynne. The exact form is not found in O. F., but Godefroy’s O. F. Dict. gives: ‘Penart, pennart, penard, panart, pannart, coutelas, espèce de grand couteau à deux tranchants ou taillants, sorte de poignard’; with seven examples, one of which shows that it could be hung at the belt: ‘Un grant pennart qu’il avoit pendu a sa sainture.’ Ducange gives the Low Lat. form penardus, and wrongly connects it with F. poignard, from which it is clearly distinct; but he also gives the form pennatum with the sense of ‘pruning-knife,’ and Torriano gives an Ital. pennato with the same sense. Cf. Lat. bi-pennis. It was a two-edged cutlass, worn in addition to his sword; and see below. It is also printed pauade in Lydgate’s Siege of Troy, ed. 1555, fol. N 5, back.

3931.popper, thruster, i.e. dagger; from the verb pop, to thrust in; cf. poke. Ioly probably means ‘neat’ or ‘small.’ This was the Miller’s third weapon of offence, of which he had three sizes, viz. a sword, a cutlass, and a little dagger like a misericorde, used for piercing between the joints of armour. No wonder that no one durst touch him ‘for peril.’ The poppere answers to the boydekin of l. 3960, q. v. And besides these, he carried a knife. ‘Poppe, to stryke’; Cathol. Angl. p. 286.

3933.thwitel, knife; from A. S. thwītan, to cut; now ill-spelt whittle. The portraits of Chaucer show a knife hanging from his breast; accordingly, in Greene’s Description of Chaucer, we find this line: ‘A whittle by his belt he bare’; see Greene’s Works, ed. Dyce, 1883, p. 320. Note that Sheffield was already celebrated for its cutlery; so in the Witch of Edmonton, Act ii. sc. 2, Somerton speaks of ‘the new pair of Sheffield knives.’

3934.camuse (Hl. camois), low and concave; cf. l. 3974 below. F. camus, ‘flat-nosed’; Cotgrave. Ital. camuso, ‘one with a flat nose’; Florio. See Camois in the New E. Dict., where it is thus explained: ‘Of the nose: low and concave. Of persons: pug-nosed.’ To the examples there given, add the following from Holland’s tr. of Pliny, i. 229; ‘As for the male goats, they are held for the best which are most camoise or snout-nosed.’ Hexham’s Du. Dict., s. v. Neuse, has the curious entry: ‘een Camuys ende opwaerts gaende Neuse [lit. a camus and upwards-going Nose], Camell-nosed.’

3936.market-beter, a frequenter of markets, who swaggered about, and was apt to be quarrelsome and in the way of others. See Wyclif’s Works, ed. Matthew, pp. 511, 520; and cf. F. battre le pavé, ‘aller et venir sans but, sans occupation’; Littré. And cf. E. ‘policeman’s beat.’ Cotgrave has: ‘Bateur de pavez, a pavement-beater; . . one that walks much abroad, and riots it wheresoever he walks.’ The following passage from the Complaint of the Ploughman (in Wright’s Polit. Poems, i. 330) makes it clear—

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‘At the wrastling, and at the wake,

And chief chantours at the nale [ale];

Market-beaters, and medling make,

Hoppen and houten [hoot], with heve and hale.’

A synonymous term was market-dasher, spelt market-daschare in the Prompt. Parv.; see Way’s note.

atte fulle, completely, entirely.

3941.Simkin, diminutive of Simond, which was his real name (ll. 4022, 4127). Altered to Sim-e-kin by Tyrwhitt, for the scansion; but cf. ll. 3945, 3947, 4034, &c. He makes the same alteration in l. 3959, for a like reason, but we may scan it: ‘But if | he wold | e be | slayn,’ &c. All the MSS. have Symkyn, except Hl., which has Symekyn here and in l. 3959. We must either make the form variable, or else treat the word de-y-nous as a trisyllable. Deynous was his regular epithet.

3943. This statement, that the parson of the town was her father, has caused surprise. In Bell’s Chaucer, the theory is started that the priest had been a widower before he took orders, which no one can be expected to believe; it is too subtle. It is clear that she was an illegitimate daughter; this is why her father paid money to get her married to a miller, and why she thought ladies ought to spare her (and not avoid her), because it was an honour to have a priest for a father, and because she had learnt so much good-breeding in a nunnery. The case is only too clear; cf. note to l. 3963.

3953.tipet, not here a cape, but the long pendant from the hood at one time fashionable, which Simkin wound round his head, in order to get it out of the way. See Tippett in Fairholt’s Costume in England; Glossary. Cf. notes to A. 233, 682.

3954. So also the Wife of Bath had ‘gay scarlet gytes’; D. 559. Spelt gide in MS. Ln., and gyde in Blind Harry’s Wallace, i. 214: ‘In-till a gyde of gudly ganand greyne,’ where it is used of a gay dress worn by Wallace. It occurs also twice in Golagros and Gawain, used of the gay dress of a woman; see Jamieson. Nares shews that gite is used once by Fairfax, and thrice by Gascoigne. The sense is usually dubious; it may mean ‘robe,’ or, in some places, ‘head-dress.’ The g was certainly hard, and the word is of F. origin. Godefroy gives ‘guite, chapeau’; and Roquefort has ‘wite, voile.’ The F. Gloss. appended to Ducange gives the word witart as applied to a man, and witarde as applied to a woman. Cf. O. F. wiart, which Roquefort explains as a woman’s veil, whilst Godefroy explains guiart as a dress or vestment. The form of the word suggests a Teutonic origin; perhaps from O. H. G. wît, wide, ample, which would explain its use to denote a veil or a robe indifferently. Ducange suggests a derivation from Lat. uitta, which is also possible.

3956.dame, lady; see A. 376.

3959.wold-e, wished, seems to be dissyllabic; see note to l. 3941.

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3960.boydekin, dagger, as in B. 3892, q. v. Cf. note to l. 3931.

3962. ‘At any rate, they would that their wives should think so.’ Wenden, pt. pl. subj. of wenen.

3963.smoterlich, besmutched; cf. bismotered in A. 76. Tyrwhitt says: ‘it means, I suppose, smutty, dirty; but the whole passage is obscure.’ Rather, it is perfectly clear when the allusion is perceived. The allusion is to the smutch upon her reputation, on account of her illegitimacy. This explains also the use of somdel; ‘because she was, in some measure, of indifferent reputation, she was always on her dignity, and ready to take offence’; which is true to human nature. Thus the whole context is illuminated at once.

3964.digne, full of dignity, and therefore (as Chaucer says, with exquisite satire) like (foul) water in a ditch, which keeps every one at a proper distance. However, the satire is not Chaucer’s own, but due to a popular proverbial jest, which occurs again in The Ploughman’s Crede, l. 375, where the Dominican friars are thus described:—

‘Ther is more pryve pride in Prechours hertes

Than ther lefte [remained] in Lucyfer, er he were lowe fallen;

They ben digne as dich-water, that dogges in bayteth’ [feed in].

And, again, in the same, l. 355:—

‘For with the princes of pride the Prechours dwellen,

They bene as digne as the devel, that droppeth fro hevene.’

Hence digne is proud, repulsive.

3965. ‘And full of scorn and reproachful taunting’; like the lady in Lay de Freine, l. 60 (in Weber’s Met. Romances, i. 359):—

‘A proud dame and an enuious,

Hokerfulliche missegging,

Squeymous and eke scorning;

To ich woman sche hadde envie.’

Hoker is the A. S. hōcor, scorn. Bismare is properly of two syllables only (A. S. bismor), but is here made into three; MS. Cp. has bisemare, and Hl. has bissemare, and the spelling bisemare also appears much earlier, in the Ancren Riwle, p. 132, and bisemære in Layamon, i. 140. Owing to a change in the accentuation, the etymology had been long forgotten. See Bismer in the New E. Dict., and see the Glossary.

3966. ‘It seemed to her that ladies ought to treat her with consideration,’ and not look down upon her; see note to l. 3943.

3977.The person, the parson, i.e. her grandfather.

3980. ‘And raised difficulties about her marriage.’

3990. The Soler-halle has been guessed to be Clare Hall, merely because that college was of early foundation, and was called a ‘hall.’ But a happy find by Mr. Riley tells us better, and sets the question at rest. In the First Report of the Historical MSS. Commission, p. 84, Mr. Riley gives several extracts from the Bursar’s Books of King’s Edition: current; Page: [120] Hall, in which the word solarium repeatedly occurs, shewing that this Hall possessed numerous solaria, or sun-chambers, used as dwelling-rooms, apparently by the fellows. They were probably fitted with bay-windows. This leaves little doubt that Soler-Hall was another name for King’s Hall, founded in 1337 by Edward III, and now merged in Trinity College. It stood on the ground now occupied by the Great Gate, the Chapel, Bowling-green, and Master’s Lodge of that celebrated college. On the testimony of Chaucer, we learn that the King’s Hall, even in his time, was ‘a greet collegge.’ Its successor is the largest in England.

In Wright’s Hist. of Domestic Manners, pp. 83, 127, 128, it is explained that the early stone-built house usually had a hall on the ground-floor, and a soler above. The latter, being more protected, was better lighted, and was considered a place of greater security. ‘In the thirteenth century a proverbial characteristic of an avaricious and inhospitable person, was to shut his hall-door and live in the soler.’ It was also ‘considered as the room of honour for rich lodgers or guests who paid well.’ Udall speaks of ‘the solares, or loftes of my hous’; tr. of Erasmus’ Apophthegmes, Aug. Cæsar, § 27.

3999.made fare, made a to-do (as we now say).

4014.Strother. There is now no town of this name in England, but the reference is probably to a place which gave its name to a Northumbrian family. Mr. Gollancz tells me:—‘The Strother family, of Northumberland, famous in the fourteenth century, was a branch of the Strothers, of Castle Strother in Glendale, to the west of Wooler. The chief member of this Northumberland branch seems to have been Alan de Strother the younger, who died in 1381. (See Calendarium Inquis. post Mortem, 4 Ric. II, vol. iii. p. 32.) The records contain numerous references to him; e. g. “Aleyn de Struther, conestable de nostre chastel de Rokesburgh,” ad 1366 (Rymer’s Fœdera, iii. 784); “Alanum del Strother, vicecomitem de Rokesburgh et vicecomitem Northumbriæ” (id. iii. 919). It is a noteworthy point that this Alan de Strother had a son John.’ This definite information does away with the old guess, that Strother is a mistake for Langstrothdale Chase almost at the N.W. extremity of the W. Riding of Yorkshire, joining the far end of Wharfdale to Ribblesdale, and even now not very accessible, though it can be reached from Ribblehead station, on the Skipton and Carlisle Railway, or from Horton-in-Ribblesdale.

I suppose that Castle Strother, mentioned above, must have been near Kirknewton, some 5 miles or so to the west of Wooler. The river Glen falls into the Till, which is a tributary of the Tweed. I find mention, in 1358–9, of ‘Henry de Strother, of Kirknewton in Glendale’; Brand, Hist. of Newcastle, ii. 414, note. W. Hutchinson, in his View of Northumberland, 1778, i. 260, speaks of ‘Kirknewton, one of the manors of the Barony of Wark, the ancient residence of the Strothers, now the property of John Strother Ker, Esq.’

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We may here notice some of the characteristics of the speech which Chaucer assigns to these two students from Northumberland.

(b) They use a for A. S. short a before ng. Ex. wanges, but Ch. also has wang-tooth, B. 3234; sang for song (4170), lange for longe, wrang for wrong.

(c) They use (perhaps) ee for oo; as in geen for goon, gone, 4078; neen for noon, none, 4185. This is remarkable, and, in fact, the readings vary, as noted. Geen, neen are in MS. E. Note also pit for put, 4088.

(d) They use the indicative sing. and pl. in -es or -s. Ex. 3 pers. sing. far-es, bo-es, ga-s, wagg-es, fall-es, fynd-es, 4130, bring-es, tyd-es, 4175, say-s, 4180. Pl. werk-es, 4030. So also is I, I is, thou is, 4089. In l. 4045, we find are ye, E.; ar ye (better), Hn.; ere ye, Cp. Hl.; is ye, Cm. Pt.; es ye, Ln. Both ar (er) and is (es) are found in the present tense plural in Northern works; we is occurs in Barbour’s Bruce, iii. 317. It is not ‘ungrammatical,’ as Tyrwhitt supposes.

(f) Besides the use of the peculiar forms mentioned in (e), we find certain words employed which do not occur elsewhere in Chaucer, viz. boes (see note to 4027), lathe, barn, fonne, fool, hething, contempt, taa, take. To these Tyrwhitt adds gar, reading Gar us have mete in l. 4132, but I can only find Get us som mete in my seven MSS. Capul, horse, occurs again in D. 1554, 2150.

I think Mr. Ellis a little underrates the ‘marked northernism’ of Chaucer’s specimens. Certainly thou is is as marked as I is; and other certain marks are the pl. indic. in -es, as in werk-es, 4030, the use of sal for ‘shall,’ of boes for ‘behoves,’ of taa for ‘take,’ of hethen for ‘hence,’ of slyk for ‘such,’ the prepositions fra and y-mel, and even some of the peculiarities of pronunciation, as ā for ō, wrang for wrong.

It is worth enquiring whether Chaucer has made any mistakes, and it is clear that he has made several. Thus as clerkes sayn (4028) should be as clerkes says; and sayth should again be says in l. 4210. In l. 4171, hem (them) should be thaim. In l. 4180, y-greved should be greved; the Northern dialect knows nothing of the prefix y-. It also ignores the final -e in definite adjectives; hence thy fair-e (4023), this short-e (4265), and this lang-e (4175) all have a superfluous -e. Of course this is what we should expect; the poet merely gives Edition: current; Page: [122] a Northern colouring to his diction to amuse us; he is not trying to teach us Northern grammar. The general effect is excellent, and that is all he was concerned with.

4020. The mill lay a little way off the road on the left (coming from Trumpington); so it was necessary to ‘know the way.’

4027.boës, contracted from behoves, a form peculiar to Chaucer. In northern poems, the word is invariably a monosyllable, spelt bos, or more commonly bus; and the pt. t. is likewise a monosyllable, viz. bud or bood, short for behoved. In Cursor Mundi, l. 9870, we have: ‘Of a woman bos him be born; and in l. 10639: ‘Than bus this may be clene and bright.’ In M. E., it is always used impersonally; him boes or him bos means ‘it behoves him,’ or ‘he must.’ See Bus in the New E. Dictionary.

Chaucer here evidently alludes to some such proverb as ‘He who has no servant must serve himself,’ but I do not know the precise form of it. The expression ‘as clerkes sayn’ hints that it is a Latin one.

4029.hope, expect, fear. Cf. P. Plowman, C. x. 275, and see Hope in Nares, who cites the story of the tanner of Tamworth (from Puttenham’s Arte of Poesie, bk. iii. c. 22) who said—‘I hope I shall be hanged to-morrow.’ Cf. also Thomas of Erceldoun, ed. Murray, l. 78:—

‘But-if I speke with yone lady bryghte,

I hope myne herte will bryste in three!’

4030. ‘So ache his molar teeth.’ Wark, to ache, is common in Yorkshire: ‘My back warks while I can hardly bide,’ my back aches so that I can hardly endure; Mid. Yks. Gloss. (E. D. S.).

4032.ham, i. e. hām, haam, home.

4033.hethen, hence, is very characteristic of a Northern dialect; it occurs in Hampole, Havelok, Morris’s Allit. Poems, Gawain, Robert of Brunne, the Ormulum, &c.; see examples in Mätzner.

4037. One clerk wants to watch above, and the other below, to prevent cheating. This incident is not in the French fabliaux. On the other hand, it occurs in the Jest of the Mylner of Abyngton, which is plainly copied from Chaucer.

4049.blere hir yë, blear their eyes, cheat them, as in l. 3865.

4055. ‘The fable of the Wolf and the Mare is found in the Latin Esopean collections, and in the early French poem of Renard le Contrefait, from whence it appears to have been taken into the English Reynard the Fox’; Wright. Tyrwhitt observes that the same story is told of a mule in Cento Novelle Antiche, no. 91. See Caxton’s Reynard, ch. 27, ed. Arber, p. 62, where the wolf wants to buy a mare’s foal, who said that the price of the foal was written on her hinder foot; ‘yf ye conne rede and be a clerk, ye may come see and rede it.’ And when Edition: current; Page: [123] the wolf said, ‘late me rede it,’ the mare gave him so violent a kick that ‘a man shold wel haue ryden a myle er he aroos.’ The Fox, who had brought it all about, hypocritically condoles with the Wolf, and observes—‘Now I here wel it is true that I long syth haue redde and herde, that the beste clerkes ben not the wysest men.’

For the story in Le Roman du Renard Contrefait, see Poètes de Champagne, Reims, 1851, p. 156. For further information, see Caxton’s Fables of Æsop, ed. Jacobs, lib. v. fab. 10; vol. i. 254, 255; vol. ii. 157, 179. La Fontaine has a similar fable of the Fox, the Wolf, and the Horse. In Croxall’s Æsop, it is told of the Horse, who tells the Lion, who is acting as physician, that he has a thorn in his foot. See further references in the Exempla of Jacques de Vitry, ed. Crane, pp. 147, 197.

4061.levesel, an arbour or shelter formed of branches or foliage. Lev-e is the stem of leef, A. S. lēaf, a leaf; and -sel is the same as the A. S. sæl, sele, a hall, dwelling, Swed. sal, Icel. salr, G. Saal. The A. S. sæl occurs also in composition, as burg-sæl, folc-sæl, horn-sæl, and sele is still commoner; Grein gives twenty-three compounds with the latter, as gæst-sele, guest-hall, hrōf-sele, roofed-hall, &c. In Icel. we have lauf-hús, leaf-house, but we find the very word we require in Swed. löfsal, ‘a hut built of green boughs,’ Widegren; Dan. lövsals-fest, feast of tabernacles. The word occurs again in the Persones Tale, l. 411, where it means a leafy arbour such as may still be seen to form the porch of a public-house. The word is scarce; but see the following:—

‘Alle but Syr Gauan, graythest of alle,

Was left with Dame Graynour, vndur the greues [groves] grene.

By a lauryel ho [she] lay, vndur a lefe-sale

Of box and of barberè, byggyt ful bene.’

Anturs of Arthur, st. 6; in Three Met. Romances, ed. Robson, p. 3.

The editor prints it as lefe sale, and explains it by ‘leafy hall,’ but it is a compound word; the adjective would be lefy or leuy. In this case the arbour was ‘built’ of box and barberry.

‘All his devocioun and holynesse

At the taverne is, as for the most dele,

To Bacus syne, and to the leef-sele

His youthe hym haleth,’ &c.

Hoccleve, De Regim. Principum, p. 22.

Again, in Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, iii. 448, the arbour formed by Jonah’s gourd is called a lefsel.

4078.geen, goon; so in MS. E., which again has neen, none, 4185. The usual Northern form is gan (= gaan), as in Hl.; Hn. Ln. have gane. But we also find gayn, as in Wallace, iv. 102; Bruce, ii. 80. Edition: current; Page: [124] The forms geen, neen, are so remarkable that they are likely to be the original ones.

4086. ‘I am very swift of foot, God knows, (even) as is a roe; by God’s heart, he shall not escape us both; why hadst thou not put the horse in the barn?’ ‘Light as a rae’ [roe]; Tournament of Tottenham, st. 15.

4088.capul, a horse, occurs again, in D. 2150. lathe, a barn, is still in use in some parts of Yorkshire, but chiefly in local designations, being otherwise obsolescent; see the Cleveland and Whitby Glossaries. ‘The northern man writing to his neighbour may say, “My lathe standeth neer the kirkegarth,” for My barne standeth neere the churchyard:’ Coote’s Eng. Schoolemaster, 1632 (Nares). Ray gives: ‘Lathe, a barn’ in 1691; and we again find ‘Leath, a barn’ in 1781 (E. D. S. Gloss. B, 1); and ‘Leath, Laith, a barn, in 1811 (E. D. S. Gloss. B. 7); in all cases as a Northern word.

4096. ‘Trim his beard,’ i.e. cheat him; and so again in D. 361. See Chaucer’s Hous of Fame, 689, and my note upon it.

‘Myght I thaym have spyde,

I had made thaym a berd.’

Towneley Mysteries, p. 144.

4101.Iossa, ‘down here’; a cry of direction. Composed of O. F. jos, jus, down; and ça, here. Bartsch gives an example of jos in his Chrestomathie, 1875, col. 8: ‘tuit li felun cadegren jos,’ all the felons fell down; and Cotgrave has: ‘Jus, downe, or to the ground.’ Godefroy gives: ça jus, here below, down here. It is clearly a direction given by one clerk to the other, and was probably a common cry in driving horses.

warderere, i. e. warde arere, ‘look out behind!’ Another similar cry. MS. Cm. has: ware the rere, mind the rear, which is a sort of gloss upon it.

4152.quakke, asthma, or difficulty of breathing that causes a croaking noise. Halliwell gives: ‘Quack, to be noisy, West. The term is applied to any croaking noise.’ Also: ‘Quackle, to choke, or suffocate, East.’ Pose, a cold in the head; A. S. gepos.

4155. ‘To wet one’s whistle’ is still in use for to drink deeply. ‘I wete my whystell, as good drinkers do’; Palsgrave, p. 780. In Walton’s Complete Angler, Part i. ch. 5, we find: ‘Let’s drink the other cup to wet our whistles.’

4174.flour, choice, best of a thing; il ending, evil death, bad end. ‘They shall have the best (i. e. here, the worst) of a bad end.’ Rather a wish than a prophecy.

4181. Sidenote in MS. Hl.—‘Qui in vno grauatur in alio debet releuari.’ A Law Maxim.

4194.upright, upon her back. ‘To slepe on the backe, vpryght, is vtterly to be abhorred’; Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 245. Palsgrave, s. v. Throwe, has: ‘I throwe a man on his backe or upright, so that his face is upwarde, Ie renuerse.’ And see Nares. Cf. ‘Now dounward groffe [on your belly], and now upright’; Rom. Rose, 2561. Bolt-upright occurs in l. 4266; where bolt is ‘like a bolt,’ hence ‘straight,’ or exactly. See Boli, adv., in the New E. Dictionary. And compare B. 1506.

4208.daf, fool; from E. daf-t. cokenay, a milk-sop, poor creature. The orig. sense of coken-ay is ‘cocks’ egg,’ from a singular piece of folk-lore which credited cocks with laying such eggs as happen to be imperfect. ‘The small yolkless eggs which hens sometimes lay are called “cocks’ eggs,” generally in the firm persuasion that the name states a fact’; Shropshire Folklore, by C. S. Burne, p. 229. The idea is old, and may be found gravely stated as a fact in Bartolomæus De Proprietatibus Rerum (14th century). See Cockney in the New E. Dictionary.

4210.Unhardy is unsely, the cowardly man has no luck. ‘Audentes Edition: current; Page: [126] fortuna iuuat’; Vergil, Aen. x. 284. So also our ‘Nothing venture, nothing have,’ and ‘Faint heart never won fair lady’; which see in Hazlitt’s Proverbs. For seel, luck, see l. 4239. See Troil. iv. 602, and the note.

4220. Pronounce ben’cite in three syllables; as usual.

4233.The thridde cok; apparently, between 5 and 6 a.m.; see note to line 3675 above. It was near dawn; see l. 4249.

4236.Malin, another form of Malkin, which is a pet-name for Matilda. See my note to P. Plowman, C. ii. 181, where my statement that Malkin occurs in the present passage refers to Tyrwhitt’s edition, which substitutes Malkin for the Malin or Malyn of the MSS. and of ed. 1532. Cf. B. 30.

‘Malyn, tersorium,’ Cath. Anglicum; i. e. Malin, like Malkin, also meant a dishclout. Malin has now become Molly.

4244.cake. In Wright’s Glossaries, ed. Wülker, col. 788, l. 36, we find, ‘Hic panis subverucius, a meleres cake’; on which Wright remarks: ‘Perhaps this name alludes to the common report that the miller always stole the flour from his customers to make his cakes, which were baked on the sly.’

4253.toty, in the seven MSS.; totty in ed. 1532. It means ‘dizzy, reeling’; and Halliwell, s. v. Totty, quotes from MS. Rawl. C. 86: ‘So toty was the brayn of his hede.’ Cf. ‘And some also so toty in theyr heade’; Lydgate, Siege of Troy, ed. 1555, fol. L 1, back. Spenser has the word twice, as tottie or totty, and evidently copied it from this very passage, which he read in a black-letter edition; see his Shep. Kal., February, 55, and F. Q. vii. 7. 39. Cf. E. totter.

This juvenile poem by Sir T. More is printed in Hazlitt’s Popular Poetry, iii. 128, and in the Preface to Todd’s Johnson.

4286.Bromeholm. A piece of what was supposed to be the true cross was brought from the East by an English priest to Norfolk in 1223, and immediately became famous as an object of pilgrimage. It is called the ‘Rode [rood] of Bromeholme’ in P. Plowman, B. v. 231; see my note to that line.

It here occurs in company with the Creed, the Paternoster, and the Ave Maria; so that it was one of the very common religious formulae which were familiar, even in the Latin form, to people of no education. They frequently knew the words of these forms, without knowing more than the general sense. In manus tuas, &c., was even recited by criminals before being hung; see Skelton’s Works, ed. Dyce, i. 5, 292, ii. 268. The words are mostly taken from the Vulgate version of Luke, xxiii. 46.

4290.oon, one, some one; not common at this date.

4295. Cf. Roman de la Rose, 12720:—‘Qui set bien de l’ostel les estres,’ i. e. who knows well the inner parts of the hostel. See note to A. 1971 above.

4302.volupeer, nightcap; see note to A. 3241.

4307.harrow, a cry for help; see note to A. 3286.

4320.Him thar, lit. ‘it needs him,’ i.e. he need, he must. For thar, ed. 1532 has dare, which Tyrwhitt rightly corrects to thar, which occurs again in D. 329, 336, 1365, and H. 352. It is common enough in early authors; the full form is tharf, as in Owl and Nightingale, 803 (or 180), Moral Ode (Jesus MS.), 44; spelt tharrf, Ormulum, 12886; therf, Ancren Riwle, p. 192; darf, Floris and Blancheflur, 315; derf, O. Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, i. 187, l. 31; dar, Octovian, 1337; &c. The pt. t. is thurfte, thurte, thorte; see tharf and thurfen in Stratmann, and cf. A. S. thearf, pt. t. thurfte. For wene, the correct reading, Tyrwhitt substitutes winne, against all authority, because he could make no sense of wene. It is odd that he should have missed the sense so completely. Wene is to imagine, think, also to expect; and the line means ‘he must not expect good who does evil.’ The very word is preserved by Ray, in his Proverbs, 3rd ed., 1737, p. 288:—‘He that evil does, never good weines.’ Hazlitt quotes a proverb to a like effect: ‘He that does what he should not, shall feel what he would not.’ Cf. ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap’; Gal. vi. 7.

I can add another example from Caxton’s Fables of Æsop, lib. ii. fab. 12 (The Fox and the Stork):—‘And therfore he that begyleth other is oftyme begyled hymself.’

The Cook’s Prologue.

4329.herbergage, lodging; alluding to l. 4123.

4331. Not from Solomon, but from Ecclesiasticus, xi. 31: ‘Non omnem hominem inducas in domum tuum; multae enim sunt insidiae dolosi.’ In the E. version, it is verse 29.

4336.Hogge, Hodge, for Roger (l. 4353). Ware, in Hertfordshire.

4346.laten blood, let blood, i. e. removed gravy from. It refers to a meat-pie, baked with gravy in it; as it was not sold the day it was made, the gravy was removed to make it keep longer; and so the pie was eaten at last, when far from being new.

4347. The meaning of ‘a Jack of Dover’ has been much disputed, but it probably meant a pie that had been cooked more than once. Some have thought it meant a sole (probably a fried sole), as ‘Dover soles’ are still celebrated; but this is only a guess, and seems to be wrong. Sir T. More, Works, p. 675 E, speaks of a ‘Jak of Paris, an evil pye twyse baken’; which is probably the same thing. Roquefort’s French Dict. has:—

See Hazlitt’s Proverbs, p. 20; and Hazlitt’s Shakespeare Jest-books, ii. 366. Hence, in a secondary sense, Jack of Dover meant an old story, or hashed up anecdote. Ray says:—‘This he [T. Fuller] makes parallel to Crambe bis cocta, and applicable to such as grate the ears of their auditors with ungrateful tautologies of what is worthless in itself; tolerable as once uttered in the notion of novelty, but abominable if repeated.’ This may explain the fact that an old jest-book was printed with the title A Jack of Dover in 1604, and again in 1615. The E. word jack has indeed numerous senses.

4350. The insinuation is that stray flies were mixed up with the parsley served up with the Cook’s geese. Tyrwhitt quotes from MS. Harl. 279—‘Take percely,’ &c. in a receipt for stuffing a goose; so that parsley was sometimes used for this purpose. It was also used for stuffing chickens; see Liber Cure Cocorum, ed. Morris, p. 22.

4357. ‘A true jest is an evil jest.’ Hazlitt, in his Collection of Proverbs, gives, ‘True jest is no jest,’ and quotes ‘Sooth bourd is no bourd’ from Heywood, and from Harington’s Brief Apologie of Poetrie, 1591. Kelly’s Scotch Proverbs includes: ‘A sooth bourd is nae bourd.’ Tyrwhitt alters the second play to spel, as being a Flemish word, but he only found it in two MSS. (Askew 1 and 2), and nothing is gained Edition: current; Page: [129] by it. The fact is, that there is nothing Flemish about the proverb except the word quad, though there may have been an equivalent proverb in that language. We must take Chaucer’s remark to mean that ‘Sooth play is what a Fleming would call quaad play’; which is then quite correct. For just as Flemish does not use the English words sooth and play, so English seldom uses the Flemish form quaad, equivalent to the Dutch kwaad, evil, bad, spelt quade in Hexham’s Du. Dict. (1658). Cf. also O. Friesic kwad, quad, East Friesic kwâd (still in common use). The Mid. Eng. form is not quad, but (properly) quēd or queed; see examples in Stratmann, s. v. cwêd. In P. Plowman, B. xiv. 189, the qued means the Evil One, the devil. Queed occurs as a sb. as late as in Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 168. We find, however, the rare M. E. form quad in Gower, ed. Pauli, ii. 246, and in the Story of Genesis and Exodus, ed. Morris, 536; and in another passage of the Cant. Tales, viz. B. 1628. The oldest English examples seem to be those in the Blickling Glosses, viz. ‘of cweade arærende, de stercore erigens’; and ‘cwed uel meox, stercus.’ There is no difficulty about the etymology; the corresponding O. H. G. word is quāt, whence G. Koth or Kot, excrement; and the root appears in the Skt. gu or gū, to void excrement; see Kot in Kluge.

4358. This is interesting, as giving us the Host’s name. Herry is the mod. E. Harry, with the usual change from er to ar, as in M. E. derk, dark, &c. It is the same as the F. Herri (not uncommon in O. F.), made from F. Henri by assimilation of nr to rr.

The name seems to have been taken from that of a real person. In the Subsidy Rolls, 4 Rich. II. (1380–1), for Southwark, occurs the entry—‘Henri’ Bayliff, Ostyler, Xpian [Christian] ux[or] eius . . ij s.’ In the parliament held at Westminster, in 50 Edw. III. (1376–7), Henry Bailly was one of the representatives for that borough; and again, in the parliament at Gloucester, 2 Rich. II., the name occurs. See Notes and Queries, 2 S. iii. 228.

The Cokes Tale.

4368. ‘Brown as a berry.’ So in A. 207.

4377. ‘There were sometimes Justs in Cheapside; Hollingshead, vol. ii. p. 348. But perhaps any procession may be meant.’—Tyrwhitt. ‘Cheapside was the grand scene of city festivals and processions.’—Wright.

4379. T. has And til, but his note says that And was inserted by himself. Wright reads, ‘And tyl he hadde’; but And is not in the Harleian MS. Observe that Wright insists very much on the fact that he reproduces this MS. ‘with literal accuracy,’ though he allows himself, according to his own account, to make silent alterations due to collation with the Lansdowne MS. But the word And is not to be found in any of the seven MSS., and this is only one example of the numerous cases in which he has silently altered his text without any Edition: current; Page: [130] MS. authority at all. His text, in fact, is full of treacherous pitfalls; and Bell’s edition is quite as bad, though that likewise pretends to be accurate.

The easiest way of scanning the line is to ignore the elision of the final e in had-de, which is preserved, as often, by the cæsural pause.

4383.sette steven, made an appointment; see A. 1524.

4394. ‘Though he (the master) may have,’ &c.

4396. ‘Though he (the apprentice) may know how to play,’ &c. Opposed to l. 4394. The sense is—‘The master pays for the revelling of the apprentice, though he takes no part in such revel; and conversely, the apprentice may gain skill in minstrelsy, but takes no part in paying for it; for, in his case, his rioting is convertible with theft.’ The master pays, but plays not; the other pays not, but plays.

4397. ‘Revelling and honesty, in the case of one of low degree (who has no money), are continually wrath with (i. e. opposed to) each other.’

4402. ‘And sometimes carried off to Newgate, with revel (such as he might be supposed to approve of).’ The point of the allusion lies in the fact that, when disorderly persons were carried to prison, they were preceded by minstrels, in order to call public attention to their disgrace. This is clearly shewn in the Liber Albus, pp. 459, 460, (p. 396 of the E. translation). E. g. ‘Item, if any person shall be impeached of adultery, and be thereof lawfully attained, let him be taken unto Newgate, and from thence, with minstrelsy, through Chepe, to the Tun on Cornhulle [Cornhill], there to remain at the will of the mayor and alderman.’

4404.paper. The allusion is not clear; perhaps it means that he was referring to his account-book, and found it unsatisfactory.

4415.for, because, since. louke, an accomplice who entices the dupe into the thief’s company, a decoyer of victims. Not ‘a receiver to a thief,’ as Tyrwhitt guessed, but his assistant in thieving, one who helped him (as Chaucer says) to suck others by stealing or borrowing. It answers to an A. S. *lūca (not found), formed with the agential suffix -a from lūcan, lit. to pull, pluck, root up weeds, hence (probably) to draw, entice. The corresponding E. Friesic lūkan or lukan means not only to pull, pluck, but also to milk or suck (see Koolman). The Low G. luken means not only to pull up weeds, but Edition: current; Page: [131] also to suck down, or to take a long pull in drinking; hence O. F. louchier, loukier, to swallow. From the A. S. lūcan, to pluck up, comes the common prov. E. louk, lowk, look, to pluck up weeds; see Ray, Whitby Glossary, &c.

4417.brybe, to purloin; not to bribe in the modern sense; see the New E. Dict.

4422. Here the Tale suddenly breaks off; so it was probably never finished.

asterisks See Notes to Gamelin at the end of the Notes to the Tales.

Edition: current; Page: [132]

NOTES TO GROUP B.

Introduction to the Man of Lawes Tale.

1.If, as Mr. Furnivall supposes, the time of the telling of the Canterbury Tales be taken to be longer than one day, we may suppose the Man of Lawes Tale to begin the stories told on the second morning of the journey, April 18. Otherwise, we must suppose all the stories in Group A to precede it, which is not impossible, if we suppose the pilgrims to have started early in the morning.

Hoste. This is one of the words which are sometimes dissyllabic, and sometimes monosyllabic; it is here a dissyllable, as in l. 39. See note to line 1883 below.

sey, i.e. saw. The forms of ‘saw’ vary in the MSS. In this line we find saugh, sauh, segh, sauhe, sawh, none of which are Chaucer’s own, but due to the scribes. The true form is determined by the rime, as in the Clerkes Tale, E. 667, where most of the MSS. have say. A still better spelling is sey, which may be found in the House of Fame, 1151, where it rimes with lay. The A. S. form is sēah.

2.The ark, &c. In Chaucer’s Treatise on the Astrolabe, pt. ii. ch. 7 (vol. iii. 194), is the proposition headed—‘to knowe the arch of the day, that some folk callen the day artificial, from the sonne arysing til hit go to reste.’ Thus, while the ‘day natural’ is twenty-four hours, the ‘day artificial’ is the time during which the sun is above the horizon. The ‘arc’ of this day merely means the extent or duration of it, as reckoned along the circular rim of an astrolabe; or, when measured along the horizon (as here), it means the arc extending from the point of sunrise to that of sunset. ronne, run, performed, completed.

3.The fourthe part. The true explanation of this passage, which Tyrwhitt failed to discover, is due to Mr. A. E. Brae, who first published it in May, 1851, and reprinted it at p. 68 of his edition of Chaucer’s Treatise on the Astrolabe. His conclusions were based upon actual calculation, and will be mentioned in due order. In re-editing the ‘Astrolabe,’ I took the opportunity of roughly checking his calculations by other methods, and am satisfied that he is quite correct, and that the day meant is not the 28th of April, as in the Ellesmere MS., nor the 13th of April, as in the Harleian MS., but the 18th, as in the Hengwrt Edition: current; Page: [133] MS. and most others. It is easily seen that xviii may be corrupted into xxviii by prefixing x, or into xiii by the omission of v; this may account for the variations.

The key to the whole matter is given by a passage in Chaucer’s ‘Astrolabe,’ pt. ii. ch. 29, where it is clear that Chaucer (who, however, merely translates from Messahala) actually confuses the hour-angle with the azimuthal arc; that is, he considered it correct to find the hour of the day by noting the point of the horizon over which the sun appears to stand, and supposing this point to advance, with a uniform, not a variable, motion. The host’s method of proceeding was this. Wanting to know the hour, he observed how far the sun had moved southward along the horizon since it rose, and saw that it had gone more than half-way from the point of sunrise to the exact southern point. Now the 18th of April in Chaucer’s time answers to the 26th of April at present. On April 26, 1874, the sun rose at 4h. 43m., and set at 7h. 12m., giving a day of about 14h. 30m., the fourth part of which is at 8h. 20m., or, with sufficient exactness, at half-past eight. This would leave a whole hour and a half to signify Chaucer’s ‘half an houre and more,’ shewing that further explanation is still necessary. The fact is, however, that the host reckoned, as has been said, in another way, viz. by observing the sun’s position with reference to the horizon. On April 18 the sun was in the 6th degree of Taurus at that date, as we again learn from Chaucer’s treatise. Set this 6th degree of Taurus on the East horizon on a globe, and it is found to be 22 degrees to the North of the East point, or 112 degrees from the South. The half of this is at 56 degrees from the South; and the sun would seem to stand above this 56th degree, as may be seen even upon a globe, at about a quarter past nine; but Mr. Brae has made the calculation, and shews that it was at twenty minutes past nine. This makes Chaucer’s ‘half an houre and more’ to stand for half an hour and ten minutes; an extremely neat result. But this we can check again by help of the host’s other observation. He also took note, that the lengths of a shadow and its object were equal, whence the sun’s altitude must have been 45 degrees. Even a globe will shew that the sun’s altitude, when in the 6th degree of Taurus, and at 10 o’clock in the morning, is somewhere about 45 or 46 degrees. But Mr. Brae has calculated it exactly, and his result is, that the sun attained its altitude of 45 degrees at two minutes to ten exactly. This is even a closer approximation than we might expect, and leaves no doubt about the right date being the eighteenth of April. For fuller particulars, see Chaucer on the Astrolabe, ed. Brae, p. 69; and ed. Skeat (E. E. T. S.), preface, p. l.

5.eightetethe, eighteenth. Mr. Wright prints eightetene, with the remark that ‘this is the reading in which the MSS. seem mostly to agree.’ This is right in substance, but not critically exact. No such word as eightetene appears here in the MSS., which denote the number by an abbreviation, as stated in the footnote. The Hengwrt MS. has xviijthe, and the Old English for eighteenth must have have been eightetethe,Edition: current; Page: [134] the ordinal, not the cardinal number. This form is easily inferred from the numerous examples in which -teenth is represented by -tethe; see feowertethe, fiftethe, &c. in Stratmann’s Old English Dictionary; we find the very form eightetethe in Rob. of Glouc., ed. Wright, 6490; and eighteteothe in St. Swithin, l. 5, as printed in Poems and Lives of Saints, ed. Furnivall, 1858, p. 43. Eighte is of two syllables, from A. S. eahta, cognate with Lat. octo. Eightetethe has four syllables; see A. 3223, and the note.

8.as in lengthe, with respect to its length.

13. The astrolabe which Chaucer gave to his little son Lewis was adapted for the latitude of Oxford. If, as is likely, the poet-astronomer checked his statements in this passage by a reference to it, he would neglect the difference in latitude between Oxford and the Canterbury road. In fact, it is less than a quarter of a degree, and not worth considering in the present case.

14.gan conclude, did conclude, concluded. Gan is often used thus as an auxiliary verb.

15.plighte, plucked; cf. shrighte, shrieked, in Kn. A. 2817.—M.

16.Lordinges, sirs. This form of address is exceedingly common in Early English poetry. Cf. the first line in the Tale of Sir Thopas.

18.seint Iohn. See the Squire’s Tale, F. 596.

19.Leseth, lose ye; note the form of the imperative plural in -eth; cf. l. 37. As ferforth as ye may, as far as lies in your power.

20.wasteth, consumeth; cf. wastour, a wasteful person, in P. Plowm. B. vi. 154.—M. Hl. has passeth, i. e. passes away; several MSS. insert it before wasteth, but it is not required by the metre, since the e in time is here fully sounded; cf. A. S. tīma. Compare—

‘The tyme, that passeth night and day,

And rest[e]lees travayleth ay,

And steleth from us so prively,

. . . . . . .

As water that doun runneth ay,

But never drope returne may,’ &c.

Romaunt of the Rose, l. 369.

See also Clerkes Tale, E. 118.

21.what. We now say—what with. It means, ‘partly owing to.’

22.wakinge; strictly, it means watching; but here, in our wakinge = whilst we are awake.

atte leste, at the least. Atte or atten is common in Old English for at the or at then; the latter is a later form of A. S. æt þām, where then (=þām) is the dative case of the article. But for the explanation of peculiar forms and words, the Glossarial Index should be consulted.

39. For ich, Tyrwhitt reads jeo=je, though found in none of our seven MSS. This makes the whole phrase French - de par dieux jeo assente. Mr. Jephson suggests that this is a clever hit of Chaucer’s, because he makes the Man of Lawe talk in French, with which, as a lawyer, he was very familiar. However, we find elsewhere—

‘Quod Troilus, “depardieux I assente”;’—

and again—

‘ “Depardieux,” quod she, “god leve al be wel”;’

Troilus and Cres. ii. 1058 and 1212;

and in the Freres Tale, D. 1395—

‘ “Depardieux,” quod this yeman, “dere brother.” ’

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It is much more to the point to observe that the Man of Lawe talks about law in l. 43. Cotgrave, in his French Dictionary, under par, gives—‘De par Dieu soit, a [i. e. in] God’s name be it. De par moy, by my means. De par le roy, by the king’s appointment.’ De par is a corruption of O.Fr. de part, on the part or side of; so that de par le roy means literally, ‘as for the king,’ i.e. ‘in the king’s name.’ Similarly, de par Dieu is ‘in God’s name.’ See Burguy, Grammaire de la Langue D’oil, ii. 359. The form dieux is a nominative, from the Latin deus; thus exhibiting an exception to the almost universal law in French, that the modern F. substantives answer to the accusative cases of Latin substantives, as fleur to florem, &c. Other exceptions may be found in some proper names, as Charles, Jacques, from Carolus, Jacobus, and in fils, from filius.

41. In the Morality entitled Everyman, in Hazlitt’s Old Eng. Plays, i. 137, is the proverb—‘Yet promise is debt.’ Mr. Hazlitt wrongly considers that as the earliest instance of the phrase.—M. Cf. Hoccleve, De Regim. Principum, p. 64:—‘And of a trewe man beheest is dette.’

holde fayn, &c.; gladly perform all my promise.

43.man . . . another = one . . . another. The Cambridge MS. is right.—M. ‘For whatever law a man imposes on others, he should in justice consider as binding on himself.’ This is obviously a quotation, as appears from l. 45. The expression referred to was probably proverbial. An English proverb says—‘They that make the laws must not break them’; a Spanish one—‘El que ley establece, guardarla debe,’ he who makes a law ought to keep it; and a Latin one—‘Patere legem quam ipse tulisti,’ abide by the law which you made yourself. The idea is expanded in the following passage from Claudian’s Panegyric on the 4th consulship of Honorius, carm. viii., l. 296.—

‘In commune iubes si quid censesue tenendum,

Primus iussa subi; tunc obseruantior aequi

Fit populus, nec ferre negat cum uiderit ipsum

Auctorem parere sibi.’

45.text, quotation from an author, precept, saying. Thus wol our text, i. e. such is what the expression implies.

47.But. This reading is given by Tyrwhitt, from MS. Dd. 4. 24 in the Cambridge University Library and two other MSS. All our seven MSS. read That; but this would require the word Nath (hath not) instead of Hath, in l. 49. Chaucer talks about his writings in a similar strain in A. 746, 1460; and at a still earlier period. in his House of Fame, 620, where Jupiter’s eagle says to him:—

‘And nevertheles hast set thy wit,

Although that in thy hede ful lyte is,

To make bokes, songes, dytees,

In ryme, or elles in cadence,

As thou best canst, in reverence

Of Love, and of his servants eke’; &c.

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can but lewedly on metres, is but slightly skilled in metre. Can=knows here; in the line above it is the ordinary auxiliary verb.

54. Ovid is mentioned for two reasons; because he has so many love-stories, and because Chaucer himself borrowed several of his own from Ovid.

made of mencioun; we should now say—‘made mention of.’

55.Epistelles, Epistles. (T. prints Epistolis, the Lat. form, without authority. The word has here four syllables.) The book referred to is Ovid’s Heroides, which contains twenty-one love-letters. See note to l. 61.

56.What, why, on what account? cf. Prologue, A. 184.

57. ‘The story of Ceyx and Alcyone is related in the introduction to the poem which was for some time called “The Dreme of Chaucer,” but which, in the MSS. Fairfax 16 and Bodl. 638, is more properly entitled, “The Boke of the Duchesse.” ’—Tyrwhitt. Chaucer took it from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, bk. xi. ‘Ceyx and Alcyone’ was once, probably, an independent poem; see vol. i. p. 63.

59.Thise is a monosyllable; the final e probably denotes that s was ‘voiced,’ and perhaps the i was long, pronounced (dhiiz).

59, 60. For eek, seek, read eke, seke. Here sek-e is in the infinitive mood. The form ek-e is not etymological, as the A. S. ēac was a monosyllable; but, as -e frequently denoted an adverbial suffix, it was easily added. Hence, in M. E., both eek and ek-e occur; and Chaucer uses either form at pleasure, ek-e being more usual. For examples of eek, see E. 1349, G. 794.

61.the seintes legende of Cupyde; better known now as The Legend of Good Women. Tyrwhitt says—‘According to Lydgate (Prologue to Boccace), the number [of good women] was to have been nineteen; and perhaps the Legend itself affords some ground for this notion; see l. 283, and Court of Love, l. 108. But this number was never completed, and the last story, of Hypermnestra, is seemingly unfinished. . . . In this passage the Man of Lawe omits two ladies, viz. Cleopatra and Philomela, whose histories are in the Legend; and he enumerates eight others, of whom there are no histories in the Legend as we have it at present. Are we to suppose, that they have been lost?’ The Legend contains the nine stories following: 1. Cleopatra; 2. Thisbe; 3. Dido; 4. Hypsipyle and Medea; 5. Lucretia; 6. Ariadne; 7. Philomela; 8. Phyllis; 9. Hypermnestra. Of these, Chaucer here mentions, as Tyrwhitt points out, all but two, Cleopatra and Philomela. Before discussing the matter further, let me note that in medieval times, proper names took strange shapes, and the reader must not suppose that the writing of Adriane for Ariadne, for example, is peculiar to Chaucer. The meaning of the other names is as follows:—Lucresse, Lucretia; Babilan Tisbee, Thisbe of Babylon; Enee, Æneas; Dianire, Deianira; Hermion, Hermione; Adriane, Ariadne; Isiphilee, Hypsipyle; Leander, Erro, Leander and Hero; Eleyne, Helena; Brixseyde,Edition: current; Page: [138] Briseis (acc. Briseïda); Ladomea, Laodamia; Ypermistra, Hypermnestra; Alceste, Alcestis.

Returning to the question of Chaucer’s plan for his Legend of Good Women, we may easily conclude what his intention was, though it was never carried out. He intended to write stories concerning nineteen women who were celebrated for being martyrs of love, and to conclude the series by an additional story concerning queen Alcestis, whom he regarded as the best of all the good women. Now, though he does not expressly say who these women were, he has left us two lists, both incomplete, in which he mentions some of them; and by combining these, and taking into consideration the stories which he actually wrote, we can make out the whole intended series very nearly. One of the lists is the one given here; the other is in a Ballad which is introduced into the Prologue to the Legend. The key to the incompleteness of the present list, certainly the later written of the two, is that the poet chiefly mentions here such names as are also to be found in Ovid’s Heroides; cf. l. 55. Putting all the information together, it is sufficiently clear that Chaucer’s intended scheme must have been very nearly as follows, the number of women (if we include Alcestis) being twenty.

Since the list of stories in Ovid’s Heroides is the best guide to the whole passage, it is here subjoined.

In this list, the numbers refer to the letters as numbered in Ovid; the italics shew the stories which Chaucer actually wrote; the asterisk points out such of the remaining stories as he happens to mention in the present enumeration; and the dagger points out the ladies mentioned in his Prologue to the Legend of Good Women.

1. Penelope Ulixi.* †

2.Phyllis Demophoonti.* †

3. Briseis Achilli.*

4. Phaedra Hippolyto.

5. Oenone Paridi.

6.Hypsipyle Iasoni;* † 12.Medea Iasoni.*

7.Dido Aeneae.* †

8. Hermione Orestae.*

9. Deianira Herculi.*

10.Ariadne Theseo.* †

11. Canace Macareo * † (expressly rejected).

13. Laodamia Protesilao.* †

14.Hypermnestra Lynceo.* †

15. Sappho Phaoni.
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16. Paris Helenae; 17. Helena Paridi.* †

18. Leander Heroni; 19. Hero Leandro.* †

20. Acontius Cydippae; 21. Cydippe Acontio.

Chaucer’s method, I fear, was to plan more than he cared to finish. He did so with his Canterbury Tales, and again with his Treatise on the Astrolabe; and he left the Squire’s Tale half-told. According to his own account (Prologue to Legend of Good Women, l. 481) he never intended to write his Legend all at once, but only ‘yeer by yere.’ Such proposals are dangerous, and commonly end in incompleteness. To Tyrwhitt’s question—‘are we to suppose that they [i.e. the legends of Penelope and others] have been lost?’ the obvious answer is, that they were never written.

Chaucer alludes to Ovid’s Epistles again in his House of Fame, bk. i., where he mentions the stories of Phyllis, Briseis, Oenone (not mentioned here), Hypsipyle, Medea, Deianira, Ariadne, and Dido; the last being told at some length. Again, in the Book of the Duchesse, he alludes to Medea, Phyllis, and Dido (ll. 726–734); to Penelope and Lucretia (l. 1081); and to Helen (l. 331). As for the stories in the Legend which are not in Ovid’s Heroides, we find that of Thisbe in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, bk. iv; that of Philomela in the same, bk. vi; whilst those of Cleopatra and Lucretia are in Boccaccio’s book De Claris Mulieribus, from which he imitated the title ‘Legend of Good Women,’ and derived also the story of Zenobia, as told in the Monkes Tale. However, Chaucer also consulted other sources, such as Ovid’s Fasti (ii. 721) and Livy for Lucretia, &c. See my Introduction to the Legend in vol. iii. pp. xxv., xxxvii.

With regard to the title ‘seintes legend of Cupide,’ which in modern English would be ‘Cupid’s Saints’ Legend,’ or ‘the Legend of Cupid’s Saints,’ Mr. Jephson remarks—‘This name is one example of the way in which Chaucer entered into the spirit of the heathen pantheism, as a real form of religion. He considers these persons, who suffered for love, to have been saints and martyrs for Cupid, just as Peter and Paul and Cyprian were martyrs for Christ.’

63. Gower also tells the story of Tarquin and Lucrece, which he took, says Professor Morley (English Writers, iv. 230), from the Gesta Romanorum, which again had it from Augustine’s De Civitate Dei.

Babilan, Babylonian; elsewhere Chaucer has Babiloine=Babylon, riming with Macedoine; Book of the Duchesse, l. 1061.

64.swerd, sword; put here for death by the sword. See Virgil’s Aeneid, iv. 646; and Chaucer’s Legend of Good Women, 1351.

65.tree, put here, most likely, for death by hanging; cf. last line. In Chaucer’s Legend, 2485, we find—

‘She was her owne deeth right with a corde.’

The word may also be taken literally, since Phyllis was metamorphosed after her death into a tree; Gower says she became a nut-tree, and Edition: current; Page: [140] derives filbert from Phyllis; Conf. Amant. bk. iv. Lydgate writes filbert instead of Phyllis; Complaint of Black Knight, l. 68.

66.The pleinte of Dianire, the complaint of Deianira, referring to Ovid’s letter ‘Deianira Herculi’; so also that of Hermion refers to the letter entitled ‘Hermione Orestae’; that of Adriane, to the ‘Ariadne Theseo’; and that of Isiphilee, to the ‘Hypsipyle Iasoni.’

68.bareyne yle, barren island; of which I can find no correct explanation by a previous editor. It refers to Ariadne, mentioned in the previous line. The expression is taken from Ariadne’s letter to Theseus, in Ovid’s Heroides, Ep. x. 59, where we find ‘uacat insula cultu’; and just below—

‘Omne latus terrae cingit mare; nauita nusquam,

Nulla per ambiguas puppis itura uias.’

Or, without referring to Ovid at all, the allusion might easily have been explained by observing Chaucer’s Legend of Ariadne, l. 2163, where the island is described as solitary and desolate. It is said to have been the isle of Naxos.

69. Scan—The dreynt | e Lé | andér |. Here the pp. dreynt is used adjectivally, and takes the final e in the definite form. So in the Book of the Duchesse, 195, it is best to read the dreynte; and in the House of Fame, 1783, we must read the sweynte.

75.Alceste. The story of Alcestis—‘that turned was into a dayesie’—is sketched by Chaucer in his Prologue to the Legend, l. 511, &c. No doubt he intended to include her amongst the Good Women, as the very queen of them all.

78.Canacee; not the Canace of the Squieres Tale, whom Chaucer describes as so kind and good as well as beautiful, but Ovid’s Canace. The story is told by Gower, Confess. Amantis, book iii. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that Chaucer is here making a direct attack upon Gower, his former friend; probably because Gower had, in some places, imitated the earlier edition of Chaucer’s Man of Lawes Tale. This difficult question is fully discussed in vol. iii. pp. 413–7.

81. ‘Or else the story of Apollonius of Tyre.’ The form Tyro represents the Lat. ablative in ‘Apollonius de Tyro.’ This story, like that of Canacee (note to l. 78), is told by Gower, Conf. Amant. bk. viii., ed. Pauli, iii. 284; and here again Chaucer seems to reflect upon Gower. The story occurs in the Gesta Romanorum, in which it appears as Tale cliii., being the longest story in the whole collection. It is remarkable as being the only really romantic story extant in an Anglo-Saxon version; see Thorpe’s edition of it, London, 1834. It is therefore much older than 1190, the earliest date assigned by Warton. Compare the play of Pericles, Prince of Tyre.

89.if that I may, as far as lies in my power (to do as I please); a common expletive phrase, of no great force.

90.of, as to, with regard to. doon, accomplish it.

92.Pierides; Tyrwhitt rightly says—‘He rather means, I think, the Edition: current; Page: [141] daughters of Pierus, that contended with the Muses, and were changed into pies; Ovid, Metam. bk. v.’ Yet the expression is not wrong; it signifies—‘I do not wish to be likened to those would-be Muses, the Pierides’; in other words, I do not set myself up as worthy to be considered a poet.

93.Metamorphoseos. It was common to cite books thus, by a title in the genitive case, since the word Liber was understood. There is, however, a slight error in this substitution of the singular for the plural; the true title being P. Ovidii Nasonis Metamorphoseon Libri Quindecim. See the use of Eneydos in the Nonne Prestes Tale, B. 4549; and of Judicum in Monk. Ta. B. 3236.

94. ‘But, nevertheless, I care not a bean.’ Cf. l. 4004 below.

95.with hawe bake, with plain fare, as Dr. Morris explains it; it obviously means something of a humble character, unsuited for a refined taste. This was left unexplained by Tyrwhitt, but we may fairly translate it literally by ‘with a baked haw,’ i. e. something that could just be eaten by a very hungry person. The expression I sette nat an hawe (=I care not a haw) occurs in the Wyf of Bathes Prologue, D. 659. Haws are mentioned as given to feed hogs in the Vision of Piers Plowman, B. x. 10; but in The Romance of William of Palerne, l. 1811, a lady actually tells her lover that they can live in the woods on haws, hips, acorns, and hazel-nuts. There is a somewhat similar passage in the Legend of Good Women, Prol. ll. 73–77. I see no difficulty in this explanation. That proposed by Mr. Jephson—‘hark back’—is out of the question; we cannot rime bak with makë, nor does it make sense.

Baken was a strong verb in M. E., with the pp. baken or bake (A. S. bacen). Dr. Stratmann, apparently by mistake, enters this phrase under hawe, adj. dark grey! But he refrains from explaining bake.

96.I speke in prose, I generally have to speak in prose in the law courts; so that if my tale is prosy as compared with Chaucer’s, it is only what you would expect. Dr. Furnivall suggests that perhaps the prose tale of Melibeus was originally meant to be assigned to the Man of Lawe. See further in vol. iii. p. 406.

98.after, afterwards, immediately hereafter. Cf. other for otherwise in Old English.—M.

Prologue to the Man of Lawes Tale.

99–121. It is important to observe that more than three stanzas of this Prologue are little else than a translation from the treatise by Pope Innocent III. entitled De Contemptu Mundi, sive de Miseria Conditionis Humanae. This was first pointed out by Prof. Lounsbury, of Yale, Newhaven, U. S. A., in the Nation, July 4, 1889. He shewed that the lost work by Chaucer (viz. his translation of ‘the Wreched Engendring of Mankinde As man may in Pope Innocent y-finde,’ mentioned in the Legend of Good Women, Prologue A, l. 414) is not lost altogether, Edition: current; Page: [142] since we find traces of it in the first four stanzas of the present Prologue; in the stanzas of the Man of Lawes Tale which begin, respectively, with lines 421, 771, 925, and 1135; and in some passages in the Pardoner’s Prologue; as will be pointed out.

It will be observed that if Chaucer, as is probable, has preserved extracts from this juvenile work of his without much alteration, it must have been originally composed in seven-line stanzas, like his Second Nonnes Tale and Man of Lawes Tale.

I here transcribe the original of the present passage from Innocent’s above-named treatise, lib. i. c. 16, marking the places where the stanzas begin.

For further references to the quotations occurring in the above passage, see the notes below, to ll. 114, 118, 120.

99.poverte=povértë, with the accent on the second syllable, as it rimes with herte; in the Wyf of Bathes Tale, it rimes with sherte. Poverty is here personified, and addressed by the Man of Lawe. The whole passage is illustrated by a similar long passage near the end of the Wyf of Bathes Tale, in which the opposite side of the question is considered, and the poet shews what can be said in Poverty’s praise. See D. 1177–1206.

101.Thee is a dative, like me in l. 91.—M. See Gen. ii. 15 (A. S. version), where him þæs ne sceamode=they were not ashamed of it; lit. it shamed them not of it.

102.artow, art thou; the words being run together: so also seistow=sayest thou, in l. 110.

108.neighebour is a trisyllable; observe that e in the middle of a word is frequently sounded; cf. l. 115. wytest, blamest.

110. ‘By my faith, sayest thou, he will have to account for it hereafter, when his tail shall burn in the fire (lit. glowing coal), because he helps not the needy in their necessity.’

114. ‘It is better (for thee) to die than be in need.’ Tyrwhitt says—‘This saying of Solomon is quoted in the Romaunt of the Rose, Edition: current; Page: [143] l. 8573—Mieux vault mourir que pauvres estre’; [l. 8216, ed. Méon.] The quotation is not from Solomon, but from Jesus, son of Sirach; see Ecclus. xl. 28, where the Vulgate has—‘Melius est enim mori quam indigere.’ Cf. B. 2761.

115.Thy selve neighebor, thy very neighbour, even thy next neighbour. See note to l. 108.

118. In Prov. xv. 15, the Vulgate version has—‘Omnes dies pauperis mali’; where the A. V. has ‘the afflicted.’

119. The reading to makes the line harsh, as the final e in come should be sounded, and therefore needs elision. in that prikke, into that point, into that condition; cf. l. 1028.

Chaucer has the same thought again in his Tale of Melibeus (p. 227, B. 2749)—‘and if thy fortune change, that thou wexe povre, farewel freendshipe and felaweshipe!’ See also note to B. 3436.

123.as in this cas, as relates to this condition or lot in life. In Chaucer, cas often means chance, hap.

124.ambes as, double aces, two aces, in throwing dice. Ambes is Old French for both, from Lat. ambo. The line in the Monkes Tale—‘Thy sys fortune hath turned into as’ (B. 3851)—helps us out here in some measure, as it proves that a six was reckoned as a good throw, but an ace as a bad one. So in Shakespeare, Mids. Nt. Dream, v. 1. 314, we find less than an ace explained as equivalent to nothing. In the next line, sis cink means a six and a five, which was often a winning throw. The allusion is probably, however, not to the mere attempt as to which of two players could throw the highest, but to the particular game called hazard, in which the word chance (here used) has a special sense. There is a good description of it in the Supplemental volume to the English Cyclopaedia, div. Arts and Sciences. The whole description has to be read, but it may suffice to say here that, when the caster is going to throw, he calls a main, or names one of the numbers five, six, seven, eight, or nine; most often, he calls seven. If he then throws either seven or eleven (Chaucer’s sis cink), he wins; if he throws aces (Chaucer’s ambes as) or deuce-ace (two and one), or double sixes, he loses. If he throws some other number, that number is called the caster’s chance, and he goes on playing till either the main or the chance turns up. In the first case he loses, in the second, he wins. If he calls some other number, the winning and losing throws are somewhat varied; but in all cases, the double ace is a losing throw.

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Similarly, in The Pardoneres Tale, where hazard is mentioned by name (C. 591), we find, at l. 653—‘Seven is my chaunce, and thyn is cinq and treye,’ i.e. eight.

In Lydgate’s Order of Fools, printed in Queen Elizabeth’s Academy, ed. Furnivall, p. 81, one fool is described—

‘Whos chaunce gothe nether yn synke or syse;

With ambes ase encressithe hys dispence.’

And in a ballad printed in Chaucer’s Works, ed. 1561, folio 340, back, we have—

‘So wel fortuned is their chaunce

The dice to turne[n] vppe-so-doune,

With sise and sincke they can auaunce.’

The phrase was already used proverbially before Chaucer’s time. In the metrical Life of St. Brandan, ed. T. Wright, p. 23, we find, ‘hi caste an ambes as,’ they cast double aces, i. e. they wholly failed. See Ambsace in the New E. Dict. Dr. Morris notes that the phrase ‘aums ace’ occurs in Hazlitt’s O. E. Plays, ii. 35, with the editorial remark—‘not mentioned elsewhere’ (!).

126.At Cristemasse, even at Christmas, when the severest weather comes. In olden times, severe cold must have tried the poor even more than it does now.

‘Muche myrthe is in may · amonge wilde bestes,

And so forth whil somer lasteþ · heore solace dureþ;

And muche myrthe amonge riche men is · þat han meoble [property]

ynow and heele [health].

Ac beggers aboute myd-somere · bredlees þei soupe,

And ȝut is wynter for hem wors · for wet-shood þei gangen,

A-furst and a-fyngred [Athirst and ahungered] · and foule rebuked

Of þese worlde-riche men · þat reuthe hit is to huyre [hear of it].’

Piers Plowman, C. xvii. 10; B. xiv. 158.

127.seken, search through; much like the word compass in the phrase ‘ye compass sea and land’ in Matth. xxiii. 15.

128.thestaat, for the estaat, i. e. the estate. This coalescence of the article and substantive is common in Chaucer, when the substantive begins with a vowel; cf. thoccident, B. 3864; thorient, B. 3871.

129.fadres, fathers, originators; by bringing tidings from afar.

130.debat, strife. Merchants, being great travellers, were expected to pick up good stories.

132.Nere, for ne were, were it not. goon is, &c., many a year ago, long since.

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The Tale of the Man of Lawe.

A story, agreeing closely with The Man of Lawes Tale, is found in Book II. of Gower’s Confessio Amantis, from which Tyrwhitt supposed that Chaucer borrowed it. But Gower’s version seems to be later than Chaucer’s, whilst Chaucer and Gower were both alike indebted to the version of the story in French prose (by Nicholas Trivet) in MS. Arundel 56, printed for the Chaucer Society in 1872. In some places Chaucer agrees with this French version rather closely, but he makes variations and additions at pleasure. Cf. vol. iii. p. 409.

The first ninety-eight lines of the preceding Prologue are written in couplets, in order to link the Tale to the others of the series; but there is nothing to show which of the other tales it was intended to follow. Next follows a more special Prologue of thirty-five lines, in five stanzas of seven lines each; so that the first line in the Tale is l. 134 of Group B, the second of the fragments into which the Canterbury Tales are broken up, owing to the incomplete state in which Chaucer left them.

134.Surrie, Syria; called Sarazine (Saracen-land) by N. Trivet.

136.spycerye, grocery, &c., lit. spicery. The old name for a grocer was a spicer; and spicery was a wide term. ‘It should be noted that the Ital. spezerie included a vast deal more than ginger and other “things hot i’ the mouth.” In one of Pegoletti’s lists of spezerie we find drugs, dye-stuffs, metals, wax, cotton,’ &c.—Note by Col. Yule in his ed. of Marco Polo; on bk. i. c. 1.

143.Were it, whether it were.

144.message, messenger, not message; see l. 333, and the note.

145. The final e in Rome is pronounced, as in l. 142; but the words the ende are to be run together, forming but one syllable, thende, according to Chaucer’s usual practice; cf. note to l. 255. Indeed in ll. 423, 965, it is actually so spelt; just as, in l. 150, we have thexcellent, and in l. 151, themperoures.

151.themperoures, the emperor’s. Gower calls him Tiberius Constantine, who was Emperor (not of Rome, but) of the East, ad 578, and was succeeded, as in the story, by Maurice, ad 582. His capital was Constantinople, whither merchants from Syria could easily repair; but the greater fame of Rome caused the substitution of the Western for the Eastern capital.

166.mirour, mirror. Such French words are frequently accented on the last syllable. Cf. minístr’ in l. 168.

171.han doon fraught, have caused to be freighted. All the MSS. have fraught, not fraughte. In the Glossary to Specimens of English, I marked fraught as being the infinitive mood, as Dr. Stratmann Edition: current; Page: [146] supposes, though he notes the lack of the final e. I have now no doubt that fraught is nothing but the past participle, as in William of Palerne, l. 2732—

‘And feithliche fraught ful of fine wines,’

which is said of a ship. The use of this past participle after a perfect tense is a most remarkable idiom, but there is no doubt about its occurrence in the Clerkes Tale, Group E. 1098, where we find ‘Hath doon yow kept,’ where Tyrwhitt has altered kept to kepe. On the other hand, Tyrwhitt actually notes the occurrence of ‘Hath don wroght’ in Kn. Tale, 1055, (A. 1913), which he calls an irregularity. A better name for it is idiom. I find similar instances of it in another author of the same period,

‘Thai strak his hed of, and syne it

Thai haf gert saltit in-til a kyt.’

Barbour’s Bruce, ed. Skeat, xviii. 167.

I.e. they have caused it (to be) salted. And again in the same, bk. viii. l. 13, we have the expression He gert held, as if ‘he caused to be held’; but it may mean ‘he caused to incline.’ Compare also the following:—

‘And thai sall let thame trumpit ill’; id. xix. 712.

I.e. and they shall consider themselves as evilly deceived.

In the Royal Wills, ed. Nichols, p. 278, we find:—‘wher I have beforn ordeyned and do mad [caused to be made] my tombe.’

The infinitive appears to have been fraughten, though the earliest certain examples of this form seem to be those in Shakespeare, Cymb. i. 1. 126, Temp. i. 2. 13. The proper form of the pp. was fraughted (as in Marlowe, 2 Tamb. i. 2. 33), but the loss of final -ed in past participles of verbs of which the stem ends in t is common; cf. set, put, &c. Hence this form fraught as a pp. in the present instance. It is a Scandinavian word, from Swed. frakta, Dan. fragte. At a later period we find freight, the mod. E. form. The vowel-change is due to the fact that there was an intermediate form fret, borrowed from the French form fret of the Scandinavian word. This form fret disturbed the vowel-sound, without wholly destroying the recollection of the original guttural gh, due to the Swed. k. For an example of fret, we have only to consult the old black-letter editions of Chaucer printed in 1532 and 1561, which give us the present line in the form—‘These marchantes han don fret her ships new.’

185.ceriously, ‘seriously,’ i.e. with great minuteness of detail. Used by Fabyan, who says that ‘to reherce ceryously’ all the conquests of Henry V would fill a volume; Chron., ed. Ellis, p. 589. Skelton, in his Garland of Laurell, l. 581, has: ‘And seryously she shewyd me ther denominacyons’; on which Dyce remarks that it means seriatim, and gives a clear example. It answers to the Low Latin seriose, used in two senses; (1) seriously, gravely; (2) minutely, Edition: current; Page: [147] fully. In the latter case it is perhaps to be referred to the Lat. series, not serius. A similar word, cereatly (Lat. seriatim), is found three times in the Romance of Partenay, ed. Skeat, with the sense of in due order; cf. Ceriatly and Ceryows in the New E. Dict.

In N. and Q. 7 S. xii. 183, I shewed that Lydgate has at least ten examples of this use of the word in his Siege of Troye. In one instance it is spelt seryously (with s).

190. This refers to the old belief in astrology and the casting of nativities. Cf. Prol. A. 414–418. Observe that ll. 190–203 are not in the original, and were doubtless added in revision. This is why this sowdan in l. 186 is so far separated from the repetition of the same words in l. 204.

197. Tyrwhitt shews that this stanza is imitated closely from some Latin lines, some of which are quoted in the margin of many MSS. of Chaucer. He quotes them at length from the Megacosmos of Bernardus Silvestris, a poet of the twelfth century (extant in MS. Bodley 1265). The lines are as follows, it being premised that those printed in italics are cited in the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Cp. Pt. and Ln.:—

‘Praeiacet in stellis series, quam longior aetas

Explicet et spatiis temporis ordo suis,

Sceptra Phoronei, fratrum discordia Thebis,

Flamma Phaethontis, Deucalionis aque.

In stellis Codri paupertas, copia Croesi,

Incestus Paridis, Hippolytique pudor.

In stellis Priami species, audacia Turni,

Sensus Ulixeus, Herculeusque uigor.

In stellis pugil est Pollux et nauita Typhis,

Et Cicero rhetor et geometra Thales.

In stellis lepidum dictat Maro, Milo figurat,

Fulgurat in Latia nobilitate Nero.

Astra notat Persis, Ægyptus parturit artes,

Graecia docta legit, praelia Roma gerit.’

See Bernardi Sylvestris Megacosmos, ed. C. S. Barach and J. Wrobel, Innsbruck, 1876, p. 16. The names Ector (Hector), &c., are too well known to require comment. The death of Turnus is told at the end of Vergil’s Æneid.

207, 208. Here have, forming part of the phrase mighte have grace, is unemphatic, whilst han (for haven) is emphatic, and signifies possession. See han again in l. 241.

211. Compare Squieres Tale, F. 202, 203, and the note thereon.

224.Mahoun, Mahomet. The French version does not mention Mahomet. This is an anachronism on Chaucer’s part; the Emperor Tiberius II. died ad 582, when Mahomet was but twelve years old.

228.I prey yow holde, I pray you to hold. Here holde is the infinitive mood. The imperative plural would be holdeth; see saveth, next line.

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236.Maumettrye, idolatry; from the Mid. E. maumet, an idol, corrupted from Mahomet. The confusion introduced by using the word Mahomet for an idol may partly account for the anachronism in l. 224. The Mahometans were falsely supposed by our forefathers to be idolaters.

242.noot, equivalent to ne woot, know not.

248.gret-è forms the fourth foot in the line. If we read gret, the line is left imperfect at the cæsura; and we should have to scan it with a medial pause, as thus:—

That thém | peróur ∥ —óf | his grét | noblésse ∥

Line 621 below may be read in a similar manner:—

But ná | thelées ∥ —thér | was gréet | moorning ∥

253. ‘So, when Ethelbert married Bertha, daughter of the Christian King Charibert, she brought with her, to the court of her husband, a Gallican bishop named Leudhard, who was permitted to celebrate mass in the ancient British Church of St. Martin, at Canterbury.’—Note in Bell’s Chaucer.

255.ynowe, being plural, takes a final e; we then read th’ende, as explained in note to l. 145. The pl. inoȝhe occurs in the Ormulum.

263.alle and some, collectively and individually; one and all. See Cler. Tale, E. 941, &c.

273–87. Not in the original; perhaps added in revision.

277. The word alle, being plural, is dissyllabic. Thing is often a plural form, being an A. S. neuter noun. The words over, ever, never are, in Chaucer, generally monosyllables, or nearly so; just as o’er, e’er, ne’er are treated as monosyllables by our poets in general. Hence the scansion is—‘Ov’r al | lë thing | ,’ &c.

289. The word at is inserted from the Cambridge MS.; all the other six MSS. omit it, which makes the passage one of extreme difficulty. Tyrwhitt reads ‘Or Ylion brent, or Thebes the citee.’ Of course he means brende, past tense, not brent, the past participle; and his conjecture amounts to inserting or before Thebes. It is better to insert at, as in MS. Cm.; see Gilman’s edition. The sense is—‘When Pyrrhus broke the wall, before Ilium burnt, (nor) at the city of Thebes, nor at Rome,’ &c. Nat (l. 290) = Ne at, as in Hl. Ylion, in medieval romance, meant ‘the citadel’ of Troy; see my note to l. 936 of the Legend of Good Women. Tyrwhitt well observes that ‘Thebes the citee’ is a French phrase. He quotes ‘dedans Renes la cite,’ Froissart, v. i. c. 225.

295–315. Not in the original, and clearly a later addition. They include an allusion to Boethius (see next note).

295. In the margin of the Ellesmere MS. is written—‘Vnde Ptholomeus, libro i. cap. 8. Primi motus celi duo sunt, quorum vnus est qui mouet totum semper ab Oriente in Occidentem vno modo super orbes, &c. Item aliter vero motus est qui mouet orbem stellarum currencium Edition: current; Page: [149] contra motum primum, videlicet, ab Occidente in Orientem super alios duos polos.’ The old astronomy imagined nine spheres revolving round the central stationary earth; of the seven innermost, each carried with it one of the seven planets, viz. the Moon, Venus, Mercury, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn; the eighth sphere, that of the fixed stars, had a slow motion from west to east, round the axis of the zodiac (super alios duos polos), to account for the precession of the equinoxes; whilst the ninth or outermost sphere, called the primum mobile, or the sphere of first motion, had a diurnal revolution from east to west, carrying everything with it. This exactly corresponds with Chaucer’s language. He addresses the outermost sphere or primum mobile (which is the ninth if reckoning from within, but the first from without), and accuses it of carrying with it everything in its irresistible westward motion; a motion contrary to that of the ‘natural’ motion, viz. that in which the sun advances along the signs of the zodiac. The result was that the evil influence of the planet Mars prevented the marriage. It is clear that Chaucer was thinking of certain passages in Boethius, as will appear from consulting his own translation of Boethius, ed. Morris, pp. 21, 22, 106, and 110. I quote a few lines to shew this:—

To the original nine spheres, as above, was afterwards added a tenth or crystalline sphere; see the description in the Complaint of Scotland, ed. Murray (E. E. T. S.), pp. 47, 48. For the figure, see fig. 10 on Plate V., in my edition of Chaucer’s Astrolabe (in vol. iii.).

Compare also the following passage:—

‘The earth, in roundness of a perfect ball,

Which as a point but of this mighty all

Wise Nature fixed, that permanent doth stay,

Wheras the spheres by a diurnal sway

Of the first Mover carried are about.’

Drayton: The Man in the Moon.

299.crowding, pushing. This is still a familiar word in East Edition: current; Page: [150] Anglia. Forby, in his Glossary of the East Anglian Dialect, says—‘Crowd, v. to push, shove, or press close. To the word, in its common acceptation, number seems necessary. With us, one individual can crowd another.’ To crowd a wheelbarrow means to push it. The expression ‘crod in a barwe,’ i.e. wheeled or pushed along in a wheelbarrow, occurs in the Paston Letters, ad 1477, ed. Gairdner, iii. 215.

302. A planet is said to ascend directly, when in a direct sign; but tortuously, when in a tortuous sign. The tortuous signs are those which ascend most obliquely to the horizon, viz. the signs from Capricornus to Gemini inclusive. Chaucer tells us this himself; see his Treatise on the Astrolabe, part ii. sect. 28, in vol. iii. The most ‘tortuous’ of these are the two middle ones, Pisces and Aries. Of these two, Aries is called the mansion of Mars, and we may therefore suppose the ascending sign to be Aries, the lord of which (Mars) is said to have fallen ‘from his angle into the darkest house.’ The words ‘angle’ and ‘house’ are used technically. The whole zodiacal circle was divided into twelve equal parts, or ‘houses.’ Of these, four (beginning from the cardinal points) were termed ‘angles,’ four others (next following them) ‘succedents,’ and the rest ‘cadents.’ It appears that Mars was not then situate in an ‘angle,’ but in his ‘darkest (i. e. darker) house.’ Mars had two houses, Aries and Scorpio. The latter is here meant; Aries being the ascendent sign, Scorpio was below the horizon, and beyond the western ‘angle.’

Now Scorpio was ‘called the house of death, and of trauaile, of harm, and of domage, of strife, of battaile, of guilefulnesse and falsnesse, and of wit’; Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. viii. c. 17. We may represent the position of Mars by the following table, where East represents the ascending sign, West the descending sign; and A., S., and C. stand for ‘angle,’ ‘succedent,’ and ‘cadent house’ respectively.

East.—

Aries.

Taurus.

Gemini.

Cancer.

Leo.

Virgo.

1. A.

2. S.

3. C.

4. A.

5. S.

6. C.

West.—

Libra.

Scorpio.

Sagittarius.

Capricornus.

Aquarius.

Pisces.

7. A.

8. S.

9. C.

10. A.

11. S.

12. C.

Again, the ‘darkest house’ was sometimes considered to be the eighth; though authorities varied. This again points to Scorpio.

‘Nulla diuisio circuli tam pessima, tamque crudelis in omnibus, quam octaua est.’—Aphorismi Astrologi Ludovici de Rigiis; sect. 35. I may also note here, that in Lydgate’s Siege of Troy, ed. 1555, fol. Y 4, there is a long passage on the evil effects of Mars in the ‘house’ of Scorpio.

305. The meaning of Atazir has long remained undiscovered. But by the kind help of Mr. Bensly, one of the sub-librarians of the Cambridge University Library, I am enabled to explain it. Atazir or atacir is the Spanish spelling of the Arabic al-tasir, influence, given at p. 351 of Richardson’s Pers. Dict., ed. 1829. It is a noun derived from asara, a verb of the second conjugation, meaning to leave a mark Edition: current; Page: [151] on, from the substantive asar, a mark; the latter substantive is given at p. 20 of the same work. Its use in astrology is commented upon by Dozy, who gives it in the form atacir, in his Glossaire des Mots Espagnols dérivés de l’Arabique, p. 207. It signifies the influence of a star or planet upon other stars, or upon the fortunes of men. In the present case it is clearly used in a bad sense; we may therefore translate it by ‘evil influence,’ i. e. the influence of Mars in the house of Scorpio. On this common deterioration in the meaning of words, see Trench, Study of Words, p. 52. The word craft, for example, is a very similar instance; it originally meant skill, and hence, a trade, and we find star-craft used in particular to signify the science of astronomy.

307. ‘Thou art in conjunction in an unfavourable position; from the position in which thou wast favourably placed thou art moved away.’ This I take to mean that the Moon (as well as Mars) was in Scorpio; hence their conjunction. But Scorpio was called the Moon’s depression, being the sign in which her influence was least favourable; she was therefore ‘not well received,’ i. e., not supported by a lucky planet, or by a planet in a lucky position. weyved, pushed aside.

312. ‘Is there no choice as to when to fix the voyage?’ The favourable moment for commencing a voyage was one of the points on which it was considered desirable to have an astrologer’s opinion. Travelling, at that time, was a serious matter. Yet this was only one of the many undertakings which required, as was thought, to be begun at a favourable moment. Whole books were written on ‘elections,’ i.e. favourable times for commencing operations of all kinds. Chaucer was thinking, in particular, of the following passage, which is written in the margins of the Ellesmere and Hengwrt MSS.: ‘Omnes concordati sunt quod elecciones sint debiles nisi in diuitibus: habent enim isti, licet debilitentur eorum elecciones, radicem, i. [id est] natiuitates eorum, que confortat omnem planetam debilem in itinere.’ The sense of which is—‘For all are agreed, that “elections” are weak, except in the case of the rich; for these, although their elections be weakened, have a “root” of their own, that is to say, their nativities (or horoscopes); which root strengthens every planet that is of weak influence with respect to a journey.’ This is extracted, says Tyrwhitt, from a Liber Electionum by a certain Zael; see MS. Harl. 80; MS. Bodley 1648. This is a very fair example of the jargon to be found in old books on astrology. The old astrologers used to alter their predictions almost at pleasure, by stating that their results depended on several causes, which partly counteracted one another; an arrangement of which the convenience is obvious. Thus, if the aspect of the planets at the time inquired about appeared to be adverse to a journey, it might still be the case (they said) that such evil aspect might be overcome by the fortunate aspect of the inquirer’s horoscope; or, conversely, an ill aspect in the horoscope could be counteracted by a fit election of a time for action. A rich man would probably be fitted with a fortunate Edition: current; Page: [152] horoscope, or else why should he buy one? Such horoscope depended on the aspect of the heavens at the time of birth or ‘nativity,’ and, in particular, upon the ‘ascendent’ at that time; i. e. upon the planets lying nearest to the point of the zodiac which happened, at that moment, to be ascending, i. e. just appearing above the horizon. So Chaucer, in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, pt. ii. § 4, (vol. iii. 191), explains the matter, saying—‘The assendent sothly, as wel in alle nativitez as in questiouns and elecciouns of tymes, is a thing which that thise Astrologiens gretly observen’; &c. The curious reader may find much more to the same effect in the same Treatise, with directions to ‘make roots’ in pt. ii. § 44.

The curious may further consult the Epitome Astrologiae of Johannes Hispalensis. The whole of Book iv. of that work is ‘De Electionibus,’ and the title of cap. xv. is ‘Pro Itinere.’

Lydgate, in his Siege of Thebes, just at the beginning, describes the astronomers as casting the horoscope of the infant Œdipus. They were expected

‘to yeue a judgement,

The roote i-take at the ascendent,

Truly sought out, by minute and degre,

The selfe houre of his natiuite,

Not foryet the heauenly mansions

Clerely searched by smale fraccions,’ &c.

To take a different example, Ashmole, in his Theatrum Chemicum, 1652, says in a note on p. 450—‘Generally in all Elections the Efficacy of the Starrs are (sic) used, as it were by a certaine application made thereof to those unformed Natures that are to be wrought upon; whereby to further the working thereof, and make them more available to our purpose. . . . And by such Elections as good use may be made of the Celestiall influences, as a Physitian doth of the variety of herbes. . . . But Nativities are the Radices of Elections, and therefore we ought chiefly to looke backe upon them as the principal Root and Foundation of all Operations; and next to them the quality of the Thing we intend to fit must be respected, so that, by an apt position of Heaven, and fortifying the Planets and Houses in the Nativity of the Operator, and making them agree with the thing signified, the impression made by that influence will abundantly augment the Operation,’ &c.; with much more to the same effect. Several passages in Norton’s Ordinall, printed in the same volume (see pp. 60, 100), shew clearly what is meant by Chaucer in his Prologue, ll. 415–7. The Doctor could ‘fortune the ascendent of his images,’ by choosing a favourable moment for the making of charms in the form of images, when a suitable planet was in the ascendent. Cf. Troil. ii. 74.

314.rote is the astrological term for the epoch from which to reckon. The exact moment of a nativity being known, the astrologers were supposed to be able to calculate everything else. See the last note.

332.Alkaron, the Koran; al is the Arabic article.

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333. Here Makomete is used instead of Mahoun (l. 224). See Washington Irving’s Life of Mahomet.

message, messenger. This is a correct form, according to the usages of Middle English; cf. l. 144. In like manner, we find prison used to mean a prisoner, which is often puzzling at first sight.

340. ‘Because we denied Mahomet, our (object of) belief.’

360. ‘O serpent under the form of woman, like that Serpent that is bound in hell.’ The allusion here is not a little curious. It clearly refers to the old belief that the serpent who tempted Eve appeared to her with a woman’s head, and it is sometimes so represented. I observed it, for instance, in the chapter-house of Salisbury Cathedral; and see the woodcut at p. 73 of Wright’s History of Caricature and Grotesque in Art. In Peter Comestor’s Historia Libri Genesis, we read of Satan—‘Elegit etiam quoddam genus serpentis (vt ait Beda) virgineum vultum habens.’ In the alliterative Troy Book, ed. Panton and Donaldson, p. 144, the Tempter is called Lyuyaton (i. e. Leviathan), and it is said of him that he

‘Hade a face vne fourmet as a fre maydon’; l. 4451.

And, again, in Piers the Plowman, B. xviii. 355, Satan is compared to a ‘lusarde [lizard] with a lady visage.’ In the Ancren Riwle, p. 207, we are gravely informed that a scorpion is a kind of serpent that has a face somewhat like that of a woman, and puts on a pleasant countenance. To remember this gives peculiar force to ll. 370, 371. See also note to l. 404.

367.knowestow is a trisyllable; and the olde is to be read tholdè. But in l. 371, the word Makestow, being differently placed in the line, is to be read with the e slurred over, as a dissyllable.

380.moste, might. It is not always used like the modern must.

401. See Lucan’s Pharsalia, iii. 79—‘Perdidit o qualem uincendo plura triumphum!’ But Chaucer’s reference, evidently made at random, is unlucky. Lucan laments that he had no triumph to record.

404. The line is deficient at the beginning, the word But standing by itself as a foot. So also in A. 294, G. 341, &c. See Ellis’s Early English Pronunciation, pp. 333, 649. (This peculiarity was pointed out by me in 1866, in the Aldine edition of Chaucer, i. 174.) For the sense of scorpioun, see the reference to the Ancren Riwle, in note to l. 360, and compare the following extracts. ‘Thes is the scorpioun, thet maketh uayr mid the heauede, and enuenymeth mid the tayle’; Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. Morris, p. 62. ‘The scorpion, the whiche enoynteth with his tongue, and prycketh sore with his taylle’; Caxton, Fables of Æsop; Lib. iv. fable 3. Chaucer repeats the idea, somewhat more fully, in the Marchaunts Tale, E. 2058–2060. So also this wikked gost means this Evil Spirit, this Tempter.

This passage is mostly made up of scraps taken from different authors. I find in Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae, lib. ii. pr. 4—‘Quam multis amaritudinibus humanae felicitatis dulcedo respersa est’; which Chaucer translates by—‘The swetnesse of mannes welefulnesse is sprayned with many biternesses’; see vol. ii. p. 34; and the same expression is repeated here, in l. 422. Gower quotes the same passage from Boethius in the prologue to his Confessio Amantis. The next sentence is from Prov. xiv. 13—‘Risus dolore miscebitur, et extrema gaudii luctus occupat.’ The last clause (see ll. 426, 427) is from Ecclesiasticus, xi. 27 (in the Vulgate version). Cf. Troil. iv. 836.

438. Compare Trivet’s French prose version:—‘Dount ele fist estorier vne neef de vitaile, de payn quest apele bisquit, & de peis, & de feues, de sucre, & de meel, & de vyn, pur sustenaunce de la vie de la pucele pur treis aunx; e en cele neef fit mettre la richesse & le tresour que lempire Tiberie auoit maunde oue la pucele Constaunce, sa fille; e en cele neef fist la soudane mettre la pucele saunz sigle, & sauntz neuiroun, & sauntz chescune maner de eide de homme.’ I. e. ‘Then she caused a ship to be stored with victuals, with bread that is called biscuit, with peas, beans, sugar, honey, and wine, to sustain the maiden’s life for three years. And in this ship she caused to be placed the riches and treasure which the Emperor Tiberius had sent with the maid Constance his daughter; and in this ship the Sultaness caused the maiden to be put, without sail or oar, or any kind of human aid.’

foot-hot, hastily. It occurs in Gower, ed. Pauli, ii. 114; in The Romaunt of the Rose, l. 3827: Octovian, 1224, in Weber’s Met. Rom. iii. 208; Sevyn Sages, 843, in the same, iii. 34; Richard Coer de Lion, 1798, 2185, in the same, ii. 71, 86; and in Barbour’s Bruce, iii. 418, xiii. 454. Compare the term hot-trod, explained by Sir W. Scott to mean the pursuit of marauders with bloodhounds: see note 3 H to the Lay of the Last Minstrel. We also find hot fot, i. e. immediately, in the Debate of the Body and the Soul, l. 481. It is a translation of the O. F. phrase chalt pas, immediately, examples of which are given by Godefroy.

449–62. Not in the original; perhaps added in revision.

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451–62. Compare these lines with verses 3 and 5 of the hymn ‘Lustra sex qui iam peregit’ in the office of Lauds from Passion Sunday to Wednesday in Holy Week inclusive, in the Roman breviary.

This hymn was written by Venantius Fortunatus; see Leyser’s collection, p. 168.

Crux fidelis, inter omnes

Arbor una nobilis:

Silua talem nulla profert

Fronde, flore, germine:

Dulce ferrum, dulce lignum,

Dulce pondus sustinent. . . . . .

Sola digna tu fuisti

Ferre mundi uictimam;

Atque portum praeparare,

Arca mundo naufrago,

Quam sacer cruor perunxit,

Fusus Agni corpore.’

See the translation in Hymns Ancient and Modern, No. 97, part 2 (new edition), beginning—‘Now the thirty years accomplished.’

460.him and here, him and her, i. e. man and woman; as in Piers the Plowman, A. Pass. i. l. 100. The allusion is to the supposed power of the cross over evil spirits. See The Legends of the Holy Rood, ed. Morris; especially the story of the Invention of the Cross by St. Helen, p. 160—‘And anone, as he had made the [sign of the] crosse, þe grete multitude of deuylles vanyshed awaye’; or, in the Latin original, ‘statimque ut edidit signum crucis, omnis illa daemonum multitudo euanuit’; Aurea Legenda, ed. Grösse, 2nd ed. p. 311. Cf. Piers Plowman, B. xviii. 429–431.

461. The reading of this line is certain, and must not be altered. But it is impossible to parse the line without at once noticing that there is some difficulty in the construction. The best solution is obtained by taking which in the sense of whom. A familiar example of this use of which for who occurs in the Lord’s Prayer. See also Abbott’s Shakespearian Grammar, Sect. 265. The construction is as follows—‘O victorious tree, protection of true people, that alone wast worthy to bear the King of Heaven with His new wounds—the White Lamb that was hurt with the spear—O expeller of fiends out of both man and woman, on whom (i.e. the men and women on whom) thine arms faithfully spread out,’ &c. Limes means the arms of the cross, spread before a person to protect him.

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464.see of Grece, here put for the Mediterranean Sea.

465.Marrok, Morocco; alluding to the Strait of Gibraltar; cf. l. 947. So also in Barbour’s Bruce, iii. 688.

470–504. Not in the French text; perhaps added in revision.

474.Ther, where; as usual. knave, servant.

475. ‘Was eaten by the lion ere he could escape.’ Cf. l. 437.

480. The word clerkes refers to Boethius. This passage is due to Boeth. bk. iv. pr. 6. 114–117, and 152–4; see vol. ii. pp. 117, 118.

491. See Revelation vii. 1-3.

497. Here (if that be omitted) As seems to form a foot by itself, which gives but a poor line. See note to l. 404.

500. Alluding to St. Mary the Egyptian (Maria Egiptiaca), who according to the legend, after a youth spent in debauchery, lived entirely alone for the last forty-seven years of her life in the wilderness beyond the Jordan. She lived in the fifth century. Her day is April 9. See Mrs. Jameson’s Sacred and Legendary Art; Rutebuef, cd. Jubinal, ii. 106–150; Maundeville’s Travels, ed. Halliwell, p. 96; Aurea Legenda, ed. Grässe, cap. lvi. She was often confused with St. Mary Magdalen.

508.Northumberlond, the district, not the county. Yorkshire is, in fact, meant, as the French version expressly mentions the Humber.

510.of al a tyde, for the whole of an hour.

512.the constable; named Elda by Trivet and Gower.

519. Trivet says that she answered Elda in his own language, ‘en sessoneys,’ in Saxon, for she had learnt many languages in her youth.

525. The word deye seems to have had two pronunciations; in l. 644 it is dye, with a different rime. In fact, Mr. Cromie’s ‘Ryme-Index’ to Chaucer proves the point. On the one hand, deye rimes to aweye, disobeye, dreye, preye, seye, tweye, weye; and on the other, dye rimes to avoutrye, bigamye, compaignye, Emelye, genterye, lye, maladye, &c. So also, high appears both as hey and hy.

527.forgat hir minde, lost her memory.

531. The final e in plese is preserved from elision by the cæsural pause. Or, we may read plesen; yet the MSS. have plese.

533.Hermengild; spelt Hermyngild in Trivet; answering to A. S. Eormengild (Lappenberg, Hist. England, i. 285). Note that St. Hermengild was martyred just at this very time, Apr. 13, 846.

552. ‘Eyes of his mind.’ Jean de Meun has the expression les yex de cuer, the eyes of the heart; see his Testament, ll. 1412, 1683.

578.Alla, i.e. Ælla, king of Northumberland, ad 560–567; the same whose name Gregory (afterwards Pope) turned, by a pun, into Alleluia, according to the version of the celebrated story about Gregory and the English slaves, as given in Beda, Eccl. Hist. b. ii. c. 1.

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584.quyte her whyle, repay her time; i.e. her pains, trouble; as when we say ‘it is worth while.’ Wile is not intended.

585. ‘The plot of the knight against Constance, and also her subsequent adventure with the steward, are both to be found, with some variations, in a story in the Gesta Romanorum, ch. 101; MS. Harl. 2270. Occleve has versified the whole story’; Tyrwhitt. See vol. iii. p. 410, for further information. Compare the conduct of Iachimo, in Cymbeline.

609. See Troil. iv. 357.

620.Berth hir on hond, affirms falsely; lit. bears her in hand. Chaucer uses the phrase ‘to bere in hond’ with the sense of false affirmation, sometimes with the idea of accusing falsely, as here and in the Wyf of Bathes Prologue, D. 393; and sometimes with that of persuading falsely, D. 232, 380. In Shakespeare the sense is rather—‘to keep in expectation, to amuse with false pretences’; Nares’s Glossary. Barbour uses it in the more general sense of ‘to affirm,’ or ‘to make a statement,’ whether falsely or truly. In Dyce’s Skelton, i. 237, occurs the line—‘They bare me in hande that I was a spye’; which Dyce explains by ‘they accused me, laid to my charge that,’ &c. He refers us to Palsgrave, who has some curious examples of it. E. g., at p. 450:—‘I beare in hande, I threp upon a man that he hath done a dede or make hym beleve so, Ie fais accroyre . . . I beare hym in hande he was wode, Ie luy metz sus la raige, or ie luy metz sus quil estoyt enragé. What crime or yuell mayest thou beare me in hande of’; &c. So also: ‘Many be borne an hande of a faute, and punysshed therfore, that were neuer gylty; Plerique facinoris insimulantur,’ &c.; Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. m. ii. ed. 1530. In Skelton’s Why Come Ye Nat to Courte, l. 449, bereth on hand simply means ‘persuades.’

631–58. Not in the original. A later insertion, of much beauty.

634. ‘And bound Satan; and he still lies where he (then) lay.’ In the Apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, Christ descends into hell, and (according to some versions) binds him with chains; see Piers Plowman, B. xviii. 401.

639.Susanne; see the story of Susannah, in the Apocrypha.

641. The Virgin’s mother is called Anna in the Apocryphal Gospel of James. Her day is July 26. See Aurea Legenda, ed. Grässe, cap. cxxxi; Cowper’s Apocryphal Gospels, p. 4.

664.us avyse, deliberate with ourselves, consider the matter again. Compare the law-phrase Le roi s’avisera, by which the king refuses assent to a measure proposed. ‘We will consider whom to appoint as judge.’

666. I.e. a copy of the Gospels in Welsh or British, called in the French prose version ‘liure des Ewangeiles.’ Agreements were sometimes Edition: current; Page: [158] written on the fly-leaves of copies of the Gospels, as may be seen in two copies of the A. S. version of them.

669. A very similar miracle is recorded in the old alliterative romance of Joseph of Arimatheạ, l. 362. The French version has:—‘a peine auoit fini la parole, qe vne mayn close, com poyn de homme, apparut deuant Elda et quant questoient en presence, et ferri tiel coup en le haterel le feloun, que ambedeus lez eus lui enuolerent de la teste, & les dentz hors de la bouche; & le feloun chai abatu a la terre; et a ceo dist vne voiz en le oyance de touz: Aduersus filiam matris ecclesie ponebas scandalum; hec fecisti, et tacui.’ I. e. ‘Scarcely had he ended the word, when a closed hand, like a man’s fist, appeared before Elda and all who were in the presence, and smote such a blow on the nape of the felon’s neck that both his eyes flew out of his head, and the teeth out of his mouth; and the felon fell smitten down to the earth; and thereupon a voice said in the hearing of all, “Against the daughter of Mother Church thou wast laying a scandal; this hast thou done, and I held my peace.” ’ The reading tacui suggests that, in l. 676, the word holde should rather be held; but the MSS. do not recognise this reading.

697.hir thoughte, it seemed to her; thoughte is here impersonal; so in l. 699. The French text adds that Domulde (Donegild) was, moreover, jealous of hearing the praises of Constance’s beauty.

701.Me list nat, it pleases me not, I do not wish to. He does not wish to give every detail. In this matter Chaucer is often very judicious; Gower and others often give the more unimportant matters as fully as the rest. Cf. l. 706; and see Squyeres Tale, F. 401.

703.What, why. Cf. Squyeres Tale, F. 283, 298.

716. Trivet says—‘Puis a vn demy aan passe, vint nouele al Roy que les gentz de Albanie, qe sountz les Escotz, furent passes lour boundes et guerrirent les terres le Roy. Dount par comun counseil, le Roi assembla son ost de rebouter ses enemis. Et auant son departir vers Escoce, baila la Reine Constaunce sa femme en la garde Elda, le Conestable du chastel, et a Lucius, leuesqe de Bangor; si lour chargea que quant ele fut deliueres denlaunt, qui lui feisoient hastiuement sauoir la nouele’; i. e. ‘Then, after half-a-year, news came to the king that the people of Albania, who are the Scots, had passed their bounds, and warred on the king’s lands. Then by common counsel the king gathered his host to rebut his foes. And before his departure towards Scotland, he committed Queen Constance his wife to the keeping of Elda, the constable of the castle, and of Lucius, bishop of Bangor, and charged them that when she was delivered, they should hastily let him know the news.’

729.to doon his avantage, to suit his convenience. He hoped, by going only a little out of his way, to tell Donegild the news also, and to receive a reward for doing so. Trivet says that the old Edition: current; Page: [159] Queen was then at Knaresborough, situated ‘between England and Scotland, as in an intermediate place.’ Its exact site is less than seventeen miles west of York. Donegild pretends to be very pleased at the news, and gives the man a rich present.

736.lettres; so in all seven MSS.; Tyrwhitt reads lettre. But it is right as it is. Lettres is sometimes used, like Lat. literae, in a singular sense, and the French text has ‘les lettres.’ Examples occur in Piers Plowman, B. ix. 38; Bruce, ii. 80. See l. 744, and note to l. 747.

738.If ye wol aught, if you wish (to say) anything.

740.Donegild is dissyllabic here, as in l. 695, but in l. 805 it appears to have three syllables. Chaucer constantly alters proper names so as to suit his metre.

743.sadly, steadily, with the idea of long continuance.

747.lettre; here the singular form is used, but it is a matter of indifference. Exactly the same variation occurs in Barbour’s Bruce, ii. 80:—

‘And, among othir, lettres ar gayn

To the byschop off Androwis towne,

That tauld how slayn wes that baroun.

The lettir tauld hym all the deid,’ &c.

This circumstance, of exchanging the messenger’s letters for forged ones, is found in Matthew Paris’s account of the Life of Offa the first; ed. Wats, pp. 965–968.

748.direct, directed, addressed; French text ‘maundez.’

751. Pronounce horrible as in French.

752. The last word in this line should rather be nas (= was not), as has kindly been pointed out to me; though the seven MSS. and the old editions all have was. By this alteration we should secure a true rime.

754.elf; French text—‘ele fu malueise espirit en fourme de femme,’ she was an evil spirit in form of woman. Elf is the A. S. ælf, Icel. álfr, G. alp and elfe; Shakespeare writes ouphes for elves. ‘The Edda distinguishes between Ljósálfar, the elves of light, and Dökkálfar, elves of darkness; the latter are not elsewhere mentioned either in modern fairy tales or in old writers. . . . . In the Alvismál, elves and dwarfs are clearly distinguished as different. The abode of the elves in the Edda is A′lfheimar, fairy land, and their king the god Frey, the god of light. In the fairy tales the Elves haunt the hills; hence their name Huldufólk, hidden people; respecting their origin, life, and customs, see I′slenzkar þjóðsögur, i. 1. In old writers the Elves are rarely mentioned; but that the same tales were told as at present is clear’; note on the word álfr, in Cleasby and Vigfusson’s Icelandic Dictionary. See also Keightley’s Fairy Mythology, and Brand’s Popular Antiquities The word is here used in a bad sense, and is nearly equivalent to witch. In the Prompt. Parv. we find—‘Elfe, spryte, Lamia’; and Mr. Way notes that these elves were often supposed to bewitch children, and to use them cruelly.

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767. Pronounce ágreáble nearly as in French, and with an accent on the first and third syllables.

769.take, handed over, delivered. Take often means to give or hand over in Middle English: very seldom to convey or bring.

771. In the margin of MSS. E. Hn. Cp. and Pt. is written—‘Quid turpius ebrioso, cui fetor in ore, tremor in corpore, qui promit stulta, prodit occulta, cuius mens alienatur, facies transformatur? Nullum enim latet secretum ubi regnat ebrietas.’ This is obviously the original of the stanza, ll. 771–777; cf. note to B. 99 above. There is nothing answering to it in Trivet, but it is to be found in Pope Innocent’s treatise De Contemptu Mundi, lib. ii. c. 19—De ebrietate. Migne’s edition has ‘promittit multa’ for ‘promit stulta.’ The last clause is quoted from Prov. xxxi. 4 in the Vulgate version; our English versions omit it. See B. 2384.

778. ‘O Donegild, I have no language fit to tell,’ &c.

782.mannish, man-like, i. e. harsh and cruel, not mild and gentle like a woman. But Chaucer is not satisfied with the epithet, and says he ought rather to call her ‘fiend-like.’ Perhaps it is worth while to say that in Gower’s Conf. Amant., lib. vi., where Pauli (iii. 52) has ‘Most liche to mannes creature,’ the older edition by Chalmers has the form mannish. Lines 778–84 are not in the original.

794. Pronounce constábl’ much as if it were French, with an accent on a. In l. 808 the accent is on o. Lastly, in l. 858, all three syllables are fully sounded.

798. ‘Three days and a quarter of an hour’; i. e. she was to be allowed only three days, and after that to start off as soon as possible. Tide (like tíð in Icelandic) sometimes means an hour. The French text says ‘deynz quatre iours,’ within four days.

801.croude, push; see ll. 296, 299 above; and note to l. 299.

813–26. Lines 813–819 are not in the French, and ll. 820–826 are not at all close to the original. The former stanza, which is due to Boeth. bk. i. met. 5. 22–30, was doubtless added in the revision.

835. The beautiful stanzas in ll. 834–868 are all Chaucer’s own; and of the next stanza, ll. 869–875, the French text gives but the merest hint.

842.eggement, incitement. The same word is used in other descriptions of the Fall. Thus, in Piers Plowman, B. i. 65, it is said of Satan that ‘Adam and Eue he egged to ille’; and in Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, B. 241, it is said of Adam that ‘thurgh the eggyng of Eue he ete of an apple.’

852.refut, refuge; see G. 75, and A. B. C. 14.

859.As lat, pray, let. See note to Clerkes Prologue, E. 7.

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873.purchace, provide, make provision. So in Troilus, bk. ii. 1125, the line ‘And of som goodly answere you purchace’ means—and provide yourself with some kind answer, i. e. be ready with a kind reply.

875–84. Much abridged from the French text.

885.tormented, tortured. However, the French text says the messenger acknowledged his drunkenness freely. Examination by torture was so common, that Chaucer seems to have regarded the mention of it as being the most simple way of telling the story.

893.out of drede, without doubt, certainly; cf. l. 869. The other equally common expression out of doute comes to much the same thing, because doute in Middle-English has in general the meaning of fear or dread, not of hesitation. See Group E. 634, 1155; and Prol. A. 487.

894.pleinly rede, fully read, read at length. In fact, Chaucer judiciously omits the details of the French text, where we read that King Ælla rushed into his mother’s room with a drawn sword as she lay asleep, roused her by crying ‘traitress!’ in a loud voice, and, after hearing the full confession which she made in the extremity of her terror, slew her and cut her to pieces as she lay in bed.

905. The name of the castle is certainly not given in the French text, which merely says it was ‘vn chastel dun Admiral de paens,’ i. e. a castle of an admiral of the Pagans.

912.gauren, gaze, stare. See note to Squ. Tale, F. 190.

913.shortly, briefly; because the poet considerably abridges this part of the narrative. The steward’s name was Thelous.

925. The word Auctor, here written in the margin of E., signifies that this stanza and the two following ones are additions to the story by the author. At the same time, ll. 925–931 are really taken from Chaucer’s own translation of Pope Innocent’s treatise De Contemptu Mundi; see further in the note to B. 99 above. Accordingly, we also find here, in the margin of E., the following Latin note:—‘O extrema libidinis turpitudo, que non solum mentem effeminat, set eciam corpus eneruat. Semper sequ[u]ntur dolor et penitentia post,’ &c. This corresponds to the above treatise, lib. ii. c. 21, headed ‘De luxuria.’ The last clause is abbreviated; the original has:—‘Semper illam procedunt ardor et petulantia; semper comitantur fetor et immunditia; sequuntur semper dolor et poenitentia.’

932–45. These two stanzas are wholly Chaucer’s, plainly written as a parallel passage to that in ll. 470–504 above.

934.Golias, Goliath. See 1 Samuel xvii. 25.

940. See the story of Holofernes in the Monkes Tale, B. 3741; and the note. I select the spelling Olofernus here, because it is that of the majority of the MSS., and agrees with the title De Oloferno in the Monkes Tale.

947. In l. 465, Chaucer mentions the ‘Strait of Marrok,’ i. e. Morocco, though there is no mention of it in the French text; so here he alludes Edition: current; Page: [162] to it again, but by a different name, viz. ‘the mouth of Jubalter and Septe.’ Jubaltar (Gibraltar) is from the Arabic jabálu’t tárik, i. e. the mountain of Tarik; who was the leader of a band of Saracens that made a descent upon Spain in the eighth century. Septe is Ceuta, on the opposite coast of Africa.

965.shortly, briefly; because Chaucer here again abridges the original, which relates how the Romans burnt the Sultaness, and slew more than 11,000 of the Saracens, without a single death or even wound on their own side.

967.senatour. His name was Arsemius of Cappadocia; his wife’s name was Helen. Accent victorie on the o.

969.as seith the storie, as the history says. The French text relates this circumstance fully.

971. The French text says that, though Arsemius did not recognise Constance, she, on her part, recognised him at once, though she did not reveal it.

981.aunte. Helen, the wife of Arsemius, was daughter of Sallustius, brother of the Emperor Tiberius, and Constance’s uncle. Thus Helen was really Constance’s first cousin. Chaucer may have altered it purposely; but it looks as if he had glanced at the sentence—‘Cest heleyne, la nece Constaunce, taunt tendrement ama sa nece,’ &c., and had read it as—‘This Helen . . . loved her niece so tenderly.’ In reality, the word nece means ‘cousin’ here, being applied to Helen as well as to Constance.

982.she, i. e. Helen; for Constance knew Helen.

991.to receyven, i. e. to submit himself to any penance which the Pope might see fit to impose upon him. Journeys to Rome were actually made by English kings; Ælfred was sent to Rome as a boy, and his father, Æthelwulf, also spent a year there, but (as the Chronicle tells us) he went ‘mid micelre weorðnesse,’ with much pomp.

994.wikked werkes; especially the murder of his mother, as Trivet says. See note to l. 894.

1009.Som men wolde seyn, some relate the story by saying. The expression occurs again in l. 1086. On the strength of it, Tyrwhitt concluded that Chaucer here refers to Gower, who tells the story of Constance in Book ii. of his Confessio Amantis. He observes that Gower’s version of the story includes both the circumstances which are introduced by this expression. But this is not conclusive, since we find that Nicholas Trivet also makes mention of the same circumstances. In the present instance the French text has—‘A ceo temps de la venuz le Roi a Rome, comensca Moris son diseotisme aan. Cist estoit apris priuement de sa mere Constance, qe, quant il irreit a la feste ou son seignur le senatour,’ &c.; i.e. At this time of the king’s coming to Rome, Maurice began his eighteenth year. He was secretly instructed by his mother Constance, that, when he should go to theEdition: current; Page: [163]feast with his lord the senator, &c. See also the note to l. 1086 below. Besides, Gower may have followed Chaucer.

1014.metes space, time of eating. This circumstance strikingly resembles the story of young Roland, who, whilst still a child, was instructed by his mother Bertha to appear before his uncle Charlemagne, by way of introducing himself. The story is well told in Uhland’s ballad entitled ‘Klein Roland,’ a translation of which is given at pp. 335–340 of my ‘Ballads and Songs of Uhland.’

‘They had but waited a little while,

When Roland returns more bold;

With hasty step to the king he comes,

And seizes his cup of gold.

“What ho, there! stop! you saucy imp!”

Are the words that loudly ring.

But Roland clutches the beaker still

With eyes fast fixed on the king.

The king at the first looked fierce and dark,

But soon perforce he smiled—

“Thou comest,” he said, “into golden halls

As though they were woodlands wild,” ’ &c.

The result is also similar; Bertha is reconciled to Charlemagne, much as Constance is to Ælla.

1034.aught, in any way, at all; lit. ‘a whit.’

1035.sighte, sighed. So also pighte, ‘pitched’; plighte, ‘plucked’; and shrighte, ‘shrieked.’ It occurs again in Troil. iii. 1080, iv. 714, 1217, v. 1633; and in the Romaunt of the Rose, l. 1746.

1036.that he mighte, as fast as he could.

1038. ‘I ought to suppose, in accordance with reasonable opinion.’ Chaucer tells the story quite in his own way. There is no trace of ll. 1038–1042 in the French, and scarcely any of ll. 1048–1071, which is all in his own excellent strain.

1060.all his halwes, all His saints. Hence the term All-hallow-mas, i. e. All Saints’ day.

1061.wisly, certainly. as have, I pray that he may have; see note to l. 859 above. ‘I pray He may so surely have mercy on my soul, as that I am as innocent of your suffering as Maurice my son is like you in the face.’

1078. After this line, the French text tells us that King Ælla presented himself before Pope Pelagius, who absolved him for the death of his mother. Pelagius II. was pope in 578–90.

1090.As he; used much as we should now use ‘as one.’ It refers to the Emperor, of course.

1091.Sente, elliptical for ‘as that he would send.’ Tyrwhitt reads send; but it is best to leave an expression like this as it stands in the MSS. It was probably a colloquial idiom; and, in the next line, we have wente. Observe that sente is in the subjunctive mood, and is equivalent to ‘he would send.’

1107. Chaucer so frequently varies the length and accent of a proper name that there is no objection to the supposition that we are here to read Cústancë in three syllables, with an accent on the first syllable. In exactly the same way, we find Grísildis in three syllables (E. 948), though in most other passages it is Grisíld. We have had Cústance, accented on the first syllable, several times; see ll. 438, 556, 566, 576, &c.; also Custáncë, three syllables, ll. 184, 274, 319, 612, &c. Tyrwhitt inserts a second your before Custance, but without authority.

1109.It am I; it is I. It is the usual idiom. So in the A. S. version of St. John vi. 20, we find ‘ic hyt com,’ i. e. I it am, and in a Dutch New Testament, ad 1700, I find ‘Ick ben ’t,’ i.e. I am it. The Mœso-Gothic version omits it, having simply ‘Ik im’; so does Wyclif’s, which has ‘I am.’ Tyndale, ad 1526, has ‘it ys I.’

1123. The French text tells us that he was named Maurice of Cappadocia, and was also known, in Latin, as Mauritius Christianissimus Imperator. Trivet tells us no more about him, except that he accounts for the title ‘of Cappadocia’ by saying that Arsemius (the senator who found Constance and Maurice and took care of them) was a Cappadocian. Gibbon says—‘The Emperor Maurice derived his origin from ancient Rome; but his immediate parents were settled at Arabissus in Cappadocia, and their singular felicity preserved them alive to behold and partake the fortune of their august son. . . . . Maurice ascended the throne at the mature age of 43 years; and he reigned above 20 years over the east and over himself.’—Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, cap. xlv. He was murdered, with all his seven children, by his successor, Phocas the Usurper; Nov. 27, ad 600. His accession was in ad 582.

1127. The statement ‘I bere it not in minde,’ i.e. I do not remember it, may be taken to mean that Chaucer could find nothing about Edition: current; Page: [165] Maurice in his French text beyond the epithet Christianissimus, which he has skilfully expanded into l. 1123. He vaguely refers us to ‘olde Romayn gestes,’ that is, to lives of the Roman emperors, for he can hardly mean the Gesta Romanorum in this instance. Gibbon refers us to Evagrius, lib. v. and lib. vi.; Theophylact Simocatta; Theophanes, Zonaras, and Cedrenus.

1143.I gesse, I suppose. Chaucer somewhat alters the story. Trivet says that Ælla died at the end of nine months after this. Half-a-year after, Constance repairs to Rome. Thirteen days after her arrival, her father Tiberius dies. A year later, Constance herself dies, on St. Clement’s day (Nov. 23), ad 584, and is buried at Rome, near her father, in St. Peter’s Church. The date 584, here given by Trivet, should rather be 583; the death of Tiberius took place on Aug. 14, 582; see Gibbon.

The Shipman’s Prologue.

1165. The host here refers to the Man of Lawes Tale, which had just been told, and uses the expression ‘thrifty tale’ with reference to the same expression above, B. 46. Most MSS. separate this end-link widely from the Tale, but MS. Hl. and MS. Arch. Seld. B. 14 have it in the right place. See vol. iii. pp. 417–9.

for the nones, for the nonce, for the occasion; see note to the Prologue, A. 379. The A. S. ānes (=once) is an adverb with a genitive case-ending; and, being an adverb, becomes indeclinable, and can accordingly be used as a dative case after the preposition for, which properly governs the dative.

1166. The Host here turns to the Parson (see Prol. A. 477), and adjures him to tell a tale, according to the agreement.

1170.Benedicite, bless ye; i. e. bless ye the Lord; the first word of the Song of the Three Children, and a more suitable exclamation than most of those in common use at the time. In the Knightes Tale, A. 1785, where Theseus is pondering over the strange event he had just witnessed, the word is pronounced in full, as five syllables. But in A. 2115, it is pronounced, as here, as a mere trisyllable. The syllables to be dropped are the second and third, so that we must say ben’cite. This is verified by a passage in the Townley Mysteries, p. 85, where it is actually spelt benste, and reduced to two syllables only. Cf. notes to B. 1974, and Troil. i. 780.

1171.man; dat. case after eyleth. Swearing is alluded to as a prevalent vice amongst Englishmen in Robert of Brunne, in the Persones Tale of Chaucer, and elsewhere.—M.

1172.O Iankin, &c.; ‘O Johnny, you are there, are you?’ That is, ‘so it is you whom I hear, is it, Mr. Johnny?’ A derisive interruption. It was common to call a priest Sir John, by way of mild derision; see Monkes Prol. (B. 3119) and Nonne Prestes Prol. (B. 4000). The Host carries the derision a little further by using the diminutive form. See note to B. 4000.

1173.a loller, a term of reproach, equivalent to a canting fellow. Tyrwhitt aptly cites a passage from a treatise of the period, referring to the Harleian Catalogue, no. 1666:—‘Now in Engelond it is a comun protectioun ayens persecutioun, if a man is customable to swere nedeles and fals and unavised, by the bones, nailes, and sides, and other membres of Christ. And to absteyne fro othes nedeles and unleful, and repreve sinne by way of charite, is mater and cause now, why Prelates and sum Lordes sclaundren men, and clepen hem Lollardes, Eretikes,’ &c.

The reader will not clearly understand this word till he distinguishes between the Latin lollardus and the English loller, two words of different origin which were purposely confounded in the time of Wyclif. The Latin Lollardus had been in use before Wyclif. Ducange quotes from Johannes Hocsemius, who says, under the date 1309—‘Eodem anno quidam hypocritae gyrovagi, qui Lollardi, sive Deum laudantes, vocabantur, per Hannoniam et Brabantiam quasdam mulieres nobiles deceperunt.’ He adds that Trithemius says in his Chronicle, under the year 1315—‘ita appellatos a Gualtero Lolhard, Germano quodam.’ Kilian, in his Dictionary of Mid. Dutch, says—‘Lollaerd, mussitator, mussitabundus’; i. e. a mumbler of prayers. This gives two etymologies for Lollardus. Being thus already in use as a term of reproach, it was applied to the followers of Wyclif, as we learn from Thomas Walsingham, who says, under the year 1377—‘Hi uocabantur a uulgo Lollardi, incedentes nudis pedibus’; and again—‘Lollardi sequaces Joannis Wiclif.’ But the Old English loller (from the verb to loll) meant simply a lounger, an idle vagabond, as is abundantly clear from a notable passage in Piers the Plowman, C-text (ed. Skeat), x. 188–218; where William tells us plainly—

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‘Now kyndeliche, by crist · beþ suche callyd lolleres,

As by englisch of oure eldres · of olde menne techynge.

He that lolleþ is lame · oþer his leg out of ioynte,’ &c.

Here were already two (if not three) words confused, but this was not all. By a bad pun, the Latin lolium, tares, was connected with Lollard, so that we find in Political Poems, i. 232, the following—

‘Lollardi sunt zizania,

Spinae, uepres, ac lollia,

Quae uastant hortum uineae.’

This obviously led to allusions to the Parable of the Tares, and fully accounts for the punning allusion to cockle, i. e. tares, in l. 1183. Mr. Jephson observes that lolium is used in the Vulgate Version, Matt. xii. 25; but this is a mistake, as the word there used is zizania. Gower, Prol. to Conf. Amant., ed. Pauli, i. 15, speaks of—

1180. ‘He shall not give us any commentary on a gospel.’ To glose is to comment upon, with occasional free introduction of irrelevant matter. The gospel is the text, or portion of the Gospel commented upon.

1181. ‘We all agree in the one fundamental article of faith’; by which he insinuates—‘and let that suffice; we want no theological subtilties discussed here.’

1186. See B. 3984, which suggests that there is a play upon words here. The Shipman will make his horse’s bells ring loudly enough to awake them all; or he will ring so merry a peal, as to rouse them like a church bell that awakes a sleeper.

1189. It is plain that the unmeaning words phislyas and phillyas, as in the MSS., must be corruptions of some difficult form. I think that form is certainly physices, with reference to the Physics of Aristotle, here conjoined with ‘philosophy’ and ‘law’ in order to include the chief forms of medieval learning. Aristotle was only known, in Chaucer’s time, in Latin translations, and Physices Liber would be a possible title for such a translation. Lewis and Short’s Lat. Dict. gives ‘physica, gen. Edition: current; Page: [168]physicae, and physice, gen. physices, f.,=ϕυσική, natural science, natural philosophy, physics, Cicero, Academ. 1. 7. 25; id. De Finibus, 3. 21. 72; 3. 22. 73.’ Magister Artium et Physices was the name of a degree; see Longfellow’s Golden Legend, § vi.

That Chaucer should use the gen. physices alone, is just in his usual manner; cf. Iudicum, B. 3236; Eneidos, B. 4549; Metamorphoseos, B. 93. Tyrwhitt’s reading of physike gives the same sense.

The Shipmannes Tale.

This Tale agrees rather closely with one in Boccaccio’s Decamerone, Day viii. nov. 1. See further in vol. iii. p. 420.

1202.us, i. e. us women. This is clear proof that some of the opening lines of this Tale were not originally intended for the Shipman, but for the Wife of Bath, as she is the only lady in the company to whom they would be suitable. We may remember that Chaucer originally meant to make each pilgrim tell four Tales; so there is nothing surprising in the fact that he once thought of giving this to the Wife. This passage is parallel to D. 337–339.

1209.perilous. Cf. D. 339: ‘it is peril of our chastitee.’

1228. Referring to the common proverb—‘As fain as a fowl [bird] of a fair day’; cf. l. 1241 below, A. 2437, G. 1342.

1233.Daun, Dan, for Lat. Dominus, corresponding to E. sir, as in ‘Sir John,’ a common title for a priest. Cf. B. 3119.

1260.Malvesye, Malmsey; so named from Malvasia, now Napoli di Malvasia, a town on the E. coast of Lacedaemonia in the Morea. See note in the Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 206, where Malvasia is explained as the Ital. corruption of Monemvasia, from Gk. μόνη ἐμβασία, single entrance; with reference to its position.

1261.Vernage. In the Babees Book, ed. Furnivall, p. 203, vernage is said to be a red wine, bright, sweet, and somewhat rough, from Tuscany and Genoa, and other parts of Italy. The Ital. name is vernaccia, lit. the name of a thick-skinned grape. The information in this note and the preceding one is drawn from Henderson’s History of Ancient and Modern Wines, 1824: which see.

1281.his thinges, the things he had to say; cf. F. 78. It ‘means the divine office in the Breviary, i.e. the psalms and lessons from scripture which, being absent from the convent, he was bound to say privately’; Bell. curteisly, reverently. See note to l. 1321 below.

1287.under the yerde, still subject to the discipline of the rod. As girls were married at a very early age, this should mean ‘still quite a child.’ Cf. as hir list in l. 1286. And see E. 22. See Ælfric’s Colloquy (Wright’s Vocab. ed. Wülker, p. 102), where the boy says he is still sub uirga, on which the A. S. gloss is under gyrda. F. sous la verge (Littré).

1292.appalled, enfeebled, languid; see F. 365.

1293.dare, lie motionless. This is the original sense of the word, as in E. Friesic bedaren. So also Low G. bedaren, to be still and quiet; as in dat weer bedaart, the weather becomes settled; een bedaart mann, a man who has lost the fire of youth. Du. bedaren, to compose, to calm. The rather common M. E. phrase to droupe and dare means ‘to sink down and lie quiet,’ like a hunted animal in hiding; hence came the secondary sense ‘to lurk’ or ‘lie close,’ as in the Prompt. Parv. Cotgrave has F. blotir, ‘to squat, skowke, or lie close to the ground, like a daring lark or affrighted foul.’ Hence also a third sense, ‘to peer round,’ as a lurking creature that looks out for possible danger. The word is common in M. E., and in many passages the sense ‘to lie still’ suits better than ‘lurk,’ as it is usually explained.

1295.Were, ‘which might be,’ ‘which should happen to be’; the relative is understood. forstraught, distracted. Such is evidently the sense; but the word occurs nowhere else, and is incorrect. As far as I can make it out, Chaucer has coined this word incorrectly. The right word is destrat (vol. ii. p. 67, l. 1), from O. F. destrait, pp. of destraire, to tear asunder (as by horses), to torment, fatigue (Godefroy). Next, he turned it (1) into forstrait, pp. of forstraire (fortraire in Cotgrave), to purloin; and (2) into forstraught, as if it were the pp. of an A. S. *for-streccan, to stretch exceedingly. Thus, he has made one change by altering the prefix, and another by misdividing the word and substituting English for French. A similar mistake is seen in the absurd form distraught, used for ‘distracted,’ though it is, formally, equivalent to dis-straught, as if made up of the prefix dis- and the pp. of strecchen, to stretch. An early instance occurs in Lydgate’s Minor Poems, ed. Halliwell, p. 206, where we find ‘Distrauhte in thouhte,’ i.e. distracted in thought, mad. There is much confusion between the E. prefixes for-, fore-, and the F. fors-, for-. Chaucer has straughte (correctly), as the pt. t. of strecchen, in A. 2916.

1321.port-hors, for porte-hors, lit. ‘carry-abroad,’ the F. equivalent of Lat. portiforium, a breviary. Also spelt portous, portess, &c. ‘The Portous, or Breviary, contained whatever was to be said by all beneficed clerks, and those in holy orders, either in choir, or privately by themselves, as they recited their daily canonical hours; no musical notation was put into these books.’—Rock, Church of our Fathers, v. iii. pt. 2, p. 212. Dan John had just been saying ‘his things’ out of it (l. 1281). The music was omitted to save space. See P. Plowman, B. xv. 122, and my note on the line.

1327.for to goon, i. e. even though going to hell were the penalty of my keeping secret what you tell me.

1329. ‘This I do, not for kinship, but out of true love.’

1335.a legende, a story of martyrdom, like that of a saint’s life.

1338. St. Martin of Tours, whose day is Nov. 11.

1341. St. Denis of France, St. Dionysius, bishop of Paris, martyred ad 272, whose day is Oct. 9. Near his place of martyrdom was built a chapel, which was first succeeded by a church, and then by the famous abbey of St. Denis, in which King Dagobert and his successors were interred. The French adopted St. Denis as their patron saint; see Chambers, Book of Days, ii. 427; Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints, Oct. 9.

1353.sit, is becoming, befits; see E. 460, 1277.

1384.Geniloun, Genilon or Ganelon, the traitor who betrayed Charlemagne’s army at Roncesvalles. For this deed he was torn to death by wild horses, according to the romance-writers. See La Chanson de Roland, l. 3735. Cf. note to B. 3579, and Book of the Duchesse, 1121, and my note upon it.

1396.chilindre, a kind of portable sun-dial, lit. cylinder. A thirteenth-century Latin treatise on the use of the chilindre was edited by Mr. E. Brock for the Chaucer Society, and I here copy his clear description of the instrument. ‘The Chilindre (cylindrus) or cylinder is one of the manifold forms of the sun-dial, very simple in its construction, but rude and inaccurate as a time-shower. According to the following treatise, it consists of a wooden cylinder, with a central bore from top to bottom, and with a hollow space in the top, into which a moveable rotary lid with a little knob at the top is fitted. This lid is also bored in the centre, and a string passed through the whole instrument. Upon this string the chilindre hangs [perpendicularly] when in use. The style or gnomon works on a pin fixed in the lid. When the instrument is in use, the style projects at a right angle to the surface of the cylindrical body, through a notch in the side of the lid, but can, at pleasure, be turned down and slipt into the central bore, which is made a little wider at the top to receive it. The body of the chilindre is marked with a table of the points of the shadow, a table of degrees for finding the sun’s altitude, and spaces corresponding to Edition: current; Page: [171] the months of the year and the signs of the zodiac. Across these spaces are drawn six oblique hour-lines.

‘To ascertain the time of day by the chilindre, consider what month it is, and turn the lid round till the style stands directly over the corresponding part of the chilindre; then hold up the instrument by the string so that the style points towards the sun, or in other words, so that the shadow of the style falls perpendicularly, and the hour will be shewn by the lowest line reached by the shadow.’

Another treatise of the same character was subsequently edited by Mr. Brock for the same Society. It is entitled ‘Practica Chilindri; or the Working of the Cylinder; by John Hoveden.’

There is a curious reference to the same instrument in the following passage from Horman’s Vulgaria, leaf 338, back:—‘There be iorneyringis [day-circles, dials] and instrumentis lyke an hangynge pyler with a tunge lyllyng [lolling] out, to knowe what tyme of the day.’

In Wright’s Vocabularies, ed. Wülker, 572. 22, we find: ‘Chilindrus, anglice a leuel; uel est instrumentum quo hore notantur, anglice a chylaundre.’ It thus appears that the reading kalendar, in the old editions, is due to a mistake.

The most interesting comment on this passage is afforded by the opening lines of the Prologue to Part II. of Lydgate’s Siege of Thebes, where Lydgate is clearly thinking of Chaucer’s words. Here also the black-letter edition of 1561 has Kalendar, but the reading of MS. Arundel 119 (leaf 18) is more correct, as follows:—

‘Passed the throp of Bowton on the Ble,

By my chilyndre I gan anon to se,

Thorgh the sonne, that ful cler gan shyne,

Of the clok[ke] that it drogh to nyne.’

pryme of day, 9 a.m., in the present passage; see above, and note the preparations for dinner in ll. 1399–1401; the dinner-hour being 10 a.m. See also note to A. 3906. ‘Our forefathers dined at an hour at which we think it fashionable to breakfast; ten o’clock was the time established by ancient usage for the principal meal’; Our Eng. Home, p. 33. In earlier times it was nine o’clock; see Wright, Hist. of Domestic Manners, p. 155.

1399. ‘As cheery as a magpie.’

1404.Qui la? who’s there. All the MSS. agree in thus cutting down the expression qui est la to two words; and this abbreviation is emphasised by the English gloss ‘Who ther’ in E. and Hn.; Cm. has Who there, without any French. It is clear, too, that the line is imperfect at the caesura, thus:—

Qui la? | quod he. | — Pe | ter it | am I ∥

This medial pause is probably intentional, to mark the difference between the speakers. Ed. 1532 (which Tyrwhitt follows) has Qui est la, in order to fill out the line. Wright has the same; and (as usual) suppresses the fact that the word est is not in the MS. which he follows ‘with literal accuracy.’

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Peter! by Saint Peter! a too common exclamation, shewing that even women used to swear. It occurs again in D. 446, 1332, and Hous of Fame, 1034, 2000.

1412.elenge, pronounced (eeléngga), in a dreary, tedious, lonely manner; drearily. From A. S. ǣlenge, lengthy, protracted; a derivative from lang, long; see P. Plowman, C. i. 204, and the note. In Pegge’s Kenticisms (E. D. S. Gloss. C. 3), we have: ‘Ellinge [pronounced éllinj], adj. solitary, lonely, melancholy, farre from neighbours. See Ray.’ It is also still in use in Sussex. The usual derivation from A.S. ellende, foreign, is incorrect; but it seems to have been confused with this word, whence the sense of ‘strange, foreign,’ was imported into it. See Alange in the New E. Dictionary.

1413.go we dyne, let us go and dine; as in P. Plowman, C. i. 227.

1417.Seint Yve. ‘St. Ivia, or Ivo,’ says Alban Butler, ‘was a Persian bishop, who preached in England in the seventh century.’ He died at St. Ive’s in Huntingdonshire. A church was also built in his honour at St. Ive’s in Cornwall. His day is April 25. This line is repeated in D. 1943. Cf. A. 4264.

1421.dryve forth, spend our time in; cf. P. Plowman, C. i. 225.

1423.pleye, ‘take some relaxation by going on a pilgrimage’; clearly shewing the chief object of pilgrimages. Cf. D. 557. The line also indicates that it was a practice, when men could no longer make a show in the world, to go on a pilgrimage, or ‘go out of the way’ somewhere, to avoid creditors.

1436.houshold. So in E. Hn. Cm.; Cp. Pt. Ln. Hl. T. have housbonde, housbond, but the application of this word to a housewife is not happy.

1441.messe, mass; it seems to have been said, on this occasion, about 9.30 a.m. It did not take long; cf. l. 1413.

1445.At-after, soon after. This curious form is still in use; see the Cleveland Glossary. So in the Whitby Glossary:—‘All things in order; ploughing first, sowing at-after.’ Cf. ‘at-after supper,’ Rich. III. iv. 3. 31; and see At, § 40, in the New E. Dict. We find also at-under and at-before. It occurs again in F. 1219.

1466.a myle-wey, even by twenty minutes (the time taken to walk a mile).

1496.let, leadeth, leads; note the various readings. Cf. ‘Thet is the peth of pouerte huerby let the holy gost tho thet,’ &c.; i.e. that is the path of poverty whereby the Holy Ghost leads those that, &c.—Ayenbite of Inwyt, p. 185; and so again in the same, p. 115, l. 9, and p. 51, l. 13. In P. Plowman, B. iii. 157, the Rawlinson MS. has let instead of ledeth.

1506. For bolt-upright, see note to A. 4194. This line is defective in the first foot; read—Hav’ | hir in | his, &c. Tyrwhitt reads Haven, but admits, in the notes, that the final n came out of his own head.

1515.the faire, the fair at Bruges. On fairs, see the note to P. Plowman, C. vii. 211.

1519.chevisaunce, a contract for borrowing money on his credit; see A. 282, and note to P. Plowman, B. v. 249. For the purpose of making such a contract, a proportional sum had to be paid down in ready money; see note to l. 1524.

1524. ‘A certain (number of) franks; and some (franks) he took with him.’ The latter sum refers to the money he had to pay down in order to get the chevisance made. See note to Wyclif’s Works, ed. Matthew, p. 528. And see l. 1558.

1542. Here sheeld is used as a plural, by analogy with pund, i.e. pounds. A sheeld was a French écu, or crown; see A. 278.

1557.Lumbardes, Lombards, the great money-lenders and bankers of the middle ages. Cf. ‘Lumbardes of Lukes, that lyuen by lone as lewes,’ Lombards from Lucca, that live by lending, as Jews do; P. Plowman, C. v. 194. Owing to the accent, Lumbard’s is dissyllabic.

1558.bond is misprinted hond in Wright’s edition; MS. Hl. has bond, correctly, though the note in Bell says otherwise.

1592.Marie, by St. Mary; the familiar ‘Marry!’ as used by our dramatists.

1595.yvel thedom, ill success. Cf. ‘Now, sere, evyl thedom com to thi snoute’; Coventry Mysteries, p. 139. This is printed by Halliwell in the form—‘Now, sere evyl Thedom, com to thi snoute,’ i.e. ‘now, sir Ill Success, come to thy snout’; but how a man can come to his own nose, we are not told.

1599.bele chere, fair entertainment, hospitality. Bele=mod. F. belle.

1606. ‘Score it upon my tally,’ make a note of it. See A. 570, and note to P. Plowman, C. v. 61.

1613.to wedde, as a pledge (common). Cf. A. 1218.

1621.large, liberal; hence E. largesse, liberality.

The Prioress’s Prologue.

1625.corpus dominus; of course for corpus domini, the Lord’s body. But it is unnecessary to correct the Host’s Latin.

1626. ‘Now long mayest thou sail along the coast!’

1627.marineer, Fr. marinier; we now use the ending -er; but modern words of French origin shew their lateness by the accent on the last syllable, as engineer.—M. The Fr. pionnier is pioner in Shakespeare, but is now pioneer.

1628. ‘God give this monk a thousand cart-loads of bad years!’ Edition: current; Page: [174] He alludes to the deceitful monk described in the Shipman’s Tale. A last is a very heavy load. In a Statute of 31 Edw. I. a weight is declared to be 14 stone; 2 weights of wool are to make a sack; and 12 sacks a last. This makes a last of wool to be 336 stone, or 42 cwt. But the dictionaries shew that the weight was very variable, according to the substance weighed. The word means simply a heavy burden, from A. S. hlæst, a burden, connected with hladan, to load; so that last and load are alike in sense. Laste, in the sense of heavy weight, occurs in Richard the Redeles, ed. Skeat, iv. 74. Quad is the Old English equivalent of the Dutch kwaad, bad, a word in very common use. In O. E., þe qued means the evil one, the devil; P. Pl. B. xiv. 189. Cf. note to A. 4357. The omission of the word of before quad may be illustrated by the expression ‘four score years,’ i.e. of years.

1630. ‘The monk put an ape in the man’s hood, and in his wife’s too.’ We should now say, he made him look like an ape. The contents of the hood would be, properly, the man’s head and face; but neighbours seemed to see peeping from it an ape rather than a man. It is a way of saying that he made a dupe of him. In the Milleres Tale (A. 3389), a girl is said to have made her lover an ape, i.e. a dupe; an expression which recurs in the Chanones Yemannes Tale, G. 1313. Spenser probably borrowed the expression from this very passage; it occurs in his Faerie Queene, iii. 9. 31:—

So also in st. 2 of an Alliterative Hymn in Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 284.

1659. ‘That, through thy humility, didst draw down from the Deity the Spirit that alighted in thee.’

1660.thalighte=thee alighte, the two words being run into one. Such agglutination is more common when the def. art. occurs, or with the word to; cf. Texpounden in B. 1716.

1661.lighte may mean either (1) cheered, lightened; or (2) illuminated. Tyrwhitt and Richardson both take the latter view; but the following passage, in which hertes occurs, makes the former the more probable:—

1677.Gydeth, guide ye. The plural number is used, as a token of respect, in addressing superiors. By a careful analysis of the words thou and ye in the Romance of William of Palerne, I deduced the following results, which are generally true in Mid. English. ‘Thou is the language of a lord to a servant, of an equal to an equal, and expresses also companionship, love, permission, defiance, scorn, threatening: whilst ye is the language of a servant to a lord, and of compliment, and further expresses honour, submission, or entreaty. Thou is used with singular verbs, and the possessive pronoun thine; but ye requires plural verbs, and the possessive your.’—Pref. to Will. of Palerne, ed. Skeat, p. xlii. Cf. Abbott’s Shakespearian Grammar, sect. 231.

1678.Asie, Asia; probably used, as Tyrwhitt suggests, in the sense of Asia Minor, as in the Acts of the Apostles.

1679.a Iewerye, a Jewry, i. e. a Jews’ quarter. In many towns there was formerly a Jews’ quarter, distinguished by a special name. There is still an Old Jewry in London. In John vii. 1 the word is used as equivalent to Judea, as also in other passages in the Bible and in Shakesp. Rich. II, ii. 1. 55. Chaucer (House of Fame, 1435) says of Josephus—

‘And bar upon his shuldres hye

The fame up of the Jewerye.’

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Thackeray uses the word with an odd effect in his Ballad of ‘The White Squall.’ See also note to B. 1749.

1681.vilanye. So the six MSS.; Hl. has felonye, wrongly. In the margin of the Ellesmere MS. is written ‘turpe lucrum,’ i. e. vile gain, which is evidently the sense intended by lucre of vilanye, here put for villanous lucre or filthy lucre, by poetical freedom of diction. See Chaucer’s use of vilanye in the Prologue, A. 70 and A. 726.

1684.free, unobstructed. People could ride and walk through, there being no barriers against horses, and no termination in a cul de sac. Cf. Troilus, ii. 616–8.

1687.Children an heep, a heap or great number of children. Of is omitted before children as it is before quad yere in B. 1628. For heep, see Prologue, A. 575.

1689.maner doctrine, kind of learning, i. e. reading and singing, as explained below. Here again of is omitted, as is usual in M.E. after the word maner; as—‘In another maner name,’ Rob. of Glouc. vol. i. p. 147; ‘with somme manere crafte,’ P. Plowman, B. v. 25: ‘no maner wight,’ Ch. Prol. A. 71; &c. See Mätzner, Englische Grammatik, ii. 2. 313. men used, people used; equivalent to was used. Note this use of men in the same sense as the French on, or German man. This is an excellent instance, as the poet does not refer to men at all, but to children. Moreover, men (spelt me in note to B. 1702) is an attenuated form of the sing. man, and not the usual plural.

1693.clergeon, not ‘a young clerk’ merely, as Tyrwhitt says, but a happily chosen word implying that he was a chorister as well. Ducange gives—‘Clergonus, junior clericus, vel puer choralis; jeune clerc, petit clerc ou enfant de chœur’; see Migne’s edition. And Cotgrave has—‘Clergeon, a singing man, or Quirester in a Queer [choir].’ It means therefore ‘a chorister-boy.’ Cf. Span. clerizon, a chorister, singing-boy; see New E. Dict.

1694.That, as for whom. A London street-boy would say—‘which he was used to go to school.’ That . . . his=whose.

1695.wher-as, where that, where. So in Shakespeare, 2 Hen. VI. i. 2. 58; Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 38. See Abbott’s Shakesp. Grammar, sect. 135. thimage, the image; alluding to an image of the Virgin placed by the wayside, as is so commonly seen on the continent.

1698.Ave Marie; so in Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 35. The words were—‘Aue Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum; benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus uentris tui. Amen.’ See the English version in Specimens of Early English, ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 106. It was made up from Luke i. 28 and i. 42. Sometimes the word Jesus was added after tui, and, at a later period, an additional clause—‘Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.’ See Rock, Church of our Fathers, iii. 315; and iii. pt. 2, 134.

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1702. ‘For a good child will always learn quickly.’ This was a proverbial expression, and may be found in the Proverbs of Hending, st. 9:—

‘Me may lere a sely fode [one may teach a good child]

That is euer toward gode

With a lutel lore;

Yef me nul [if one will not] him forther teche,

Thenne is [his] herte wol areche

Forte lerne more.

Sely chyld is sone ylered; Quoth Hendyng.’

1704.stant, stands, is. Tyrwhitt says—‘we have an account of the very early piety of this Saint in his lesson; Breviarium Romanum, vi. Decemb.—Cuius uiri sanctitas quanta futura esset, iam ab incunabulis apparuit. Nam infans, cum reliquas dies lac nutricis frequens sugeret, quarta et sexta feria (i. e. on Wednesdays and Fridays) semel duntaxat, idque uesperi, sugebat.’ Besides, St. Nicholas was the patron of schoolboys, and the festival of the ‘boy-bishop’ was often held on his day (Dec. 6); Rock, Church of our Fathers, iii. 2. 215.

1708.Alma redemptoris mater. There is more than one hymn with this beginning, but the one meant is perhaps one of five stanzas printed in Hymni Latini Medii Ævi, ed. F. J. Mone, vol. ii. p. 200, from a St. Gallen MS. no. 452, p. 141, of the thirteenth century. The first and last stanzas were sung in the Marian Antiphon, from the Saturday evening before the 1st Sunday in Advent to Candlemas day. In l. 4 we have the salutation which Chaucer mentions (l. 1723), and in the last stanza is the prayer (l. 1724). These two stanzas are as follows:—

‘Alma redemptoris mater,

quam de caelis misit pater

propter salutem gentium;

tibi dicunt omnes “aue!”

quia mundum soluens a uae

mutasti uocem flentium. . . . .

Audi, mater pietatis,

nos gementes a peccatis

et a malis nos tuere;

ne damnemur cum impiis,

in aeternis suppliciis,

peccatorum miserere.’

There is another anthem that would suit almost equally well, but hardly comes so near to Chaucer’s description. It occurs in the Roman Breviary, ed. 1583, p. 112, and was said at compline from Advent eve to Candlemas day, like the other; cf. l. 1730. The words are:—

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‘Alma redemptoris mater, quae peruia caeli

Porta manes, et stella maris, succurre cadenti,

Surgere qui curat, populo: Tu quae genuisti,

Natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem,

Virgo priùs ac posteriùs, Gabrielis ab ore

Sumens illud “Aue!” peccatorum miserere.’

In the Myrour of Our Lady, ed. Blunt, p. 174, an English translation of the latter anthem is given, with the heading ‘Alma redemptoris mater.’

1709.antiphoner, anthem-book. ‘The Antiphoner, or Lyggar, was always a large codex, having in it not merely the words, but the music and the tones, for all the invitatories, the hymns, responses, versicles, collects, and little chapters, besides whatever else belonged to the solemn chanting of masses and lauds, as well as the smaller canonical hours’; Rock, Church of our Fathers, v. 3, pt. 2, p. 212.

1710.ner and ner, nearer and nearer. The phrase come neor and neor (=come nearer and nearer) occurs in King Alisaunder, in Weber’s Metrical Romances, l. 599.

1713.was to seye, was to mean, meant. To seye is the gerundial or dative infinitive; see Morris, Hist. Outlines of English Accidence, sect. 290.

1749. The feeling against Jews seems to have been very bitter, and there are numerous illustrations of this. In Gower’s Conf. Amant. bk. vii, ed. Pauli, iii. 194, a Jew is represented as saying—

‘I am a Jewe, and by my lawe

I shal to no man be felawe

To kepe him trouth in word ne dede.’

In Piers the Plowman, B. xviii. 104, Faith reproves the Jews, and says to them—

‘ȝe cherles, and ȝowre children · chieue [thrive] shal ȝe neure,

Ne haue lordship in londe · ne no londe tylye [till ,

But al bareyne be · & vsurye vsen,

Which is lyf þat owre lorde · in alle lawes acurseth.’

See also P. Pl., C. v. 194. Usury was forbidden by the canon law, and those who practised it, chiefly Jews and Lombards, were held to Edition: current; Page: [179] be grievous sinners. Hence the character of Shylock, and of Marlowe’s Jew of Malta. Cf. note on the Jews in England in the Annals of England, p. 162.

1751.honest, honourable; as in the Bible, Rom. xii. 17, &c.

1752.swich, such. The sense here bears out the formation of the word from so-like.—M.

1753.your, of you. Shakespeare has ‘in your despite,’ Cymb. i. 6. 135; ‘in thy despite,’ 1 Hen. VI, iv. 7. 22. Despite is used, like the Early and Middle English maugre, with a genitive; as maugre þin, in spite of thee, in Havelok, ll. 1128, 1789.—M.

1793.Iesu. This word is written ‘Ihu’ in E. Hn. Cm.; and ‘ihc’ in Cp. Pt. Ln.; in both cases there is a stroke through the h. This is frequently printed Ihesu, but the retention of h is unnecessary. It is not really an h at all, but the Greek H, meaning long e (ē). So, also, in ‘ihc,’ the c is not the Latin c, but the Gk. c, meaning Σ or s; and ihc are the first three letters of the word ΙΗΣΟΥΣ = ιησους = iesus. Iesu, as well as Iesus, was used as a nominative, though really the genitive or vocative case. At a later period, ihs (still with a stroke through the h) was written for ihc as a contraction of iesus. By an odd error, a new meaning was invented for these letters, and common belief treated them as the initials of three Latin words, viz. Iesus Hominum Salvator. But as the stroke through the h or mark of contraction still remained unaccounted for, it was turned into a cross! Hence the common symbol I.H.S. with the small cross in the upper part of the middle letter. The wrong interpretation is still the favourite one, all errors being long-lived. Another common contraction is Xpc., where all the letters are Greek. The x is ch (χ), the p is r (ρ), and c is s, so that Xpc = chrs, the contraction for christus or Christ. This is less common in decoration, and no false interpretation has been found for it.

1794.inwith, within. This form occurs in E. Hn. Pt. Ln.; the rest have within. Again, in the Merchant’s Tale (E. 1944), MSS. E. Hn. Cm. Hl. have the form inwith. It occurs in the legend of St. Katharine, ed. Morton, l. 172; in Sir Perceval (Thornton Romances), l. 611; in Alliterative Poems, ed. Morris, A. 970; and in Palladius on Husbandry, ed. Lodge, iii. 404. Dr. Morris says it was Edition: current; Page: [180] (like utwith = without) originally peculiar to the Northern dialect. See the Glossary, and the note to l. 2159 below (p. 202).

1805.coomen; so in E. Hn.; comen in Pt. Cp. But it is the past tense = came. The spelling comen for the past tense plural is very common in Early English, and we even find com in the singular. Thus, in l. 1807, the Petworth MS. has ‘He come,’ equivalent to ‘coom,’ the o being long. But herieth in l. 1808 is a present tense.

1814.nexte, nighest, as in Kn. Ta. A. 1413. So also hext = highest, as in the Old Eng. proverb—‘When bale is hext, then bote is next,’ i.e. ‘when woe is highest, help is nighest.’ Next is for neh-est, and hext is for heh-est.

1817.newe Rachel, second Rachel, as we should now say; referring to Matt. ii. 18.

1819.dooth for to sterve, causes to die. So also in l. 1823, dide hem drawe = caused them to be drawn.

1826. The body occupied the place of honour. ‘The bier, if the deceased had been a clerk, went into the chancel; if a layman, and not of high degree, the bearers set it down in the nave, hard by the church-door’; Rock, Ch. of our Fathers, ii. 472. He cites the Sarum Manual, fol. c.

1827.the abbot; pronounced thabbòt. covent, convent; here used for the monks who composed the body over which the abbot presided. So in Shakespeare, Hen. VIII, iv. 2. 18—‘where the reverend abbot, With all his covent, honourably received him.’ The form covent is Old French, still preserved in Covent Garden.

1848. In the Ellesmere MS. (which has the metrical pauses marked) the pause in this line is marked after lyf. The word sholde is dissyllabic here, having more than the usual emphasis; it has the force of ought to. Cf. E. 1146.

1852. In the Cursor Mundi, 1373–6, Seth is told to place three pippins under the root of Adam’s tongue.

1857.now is used in the sense of take notice that, without any Edition: current; Page: [181] reference to time. There is no necessity to alter the reading to than, as proposed by Tyrwhitt. See Mätzner, Engl. Gram. ii. 2. 346, who refers to Luke ii. 41, John i. 44, and quotes an apt passage from Maundeville’s Travels, p. 63—‘Now aftre that men han visited the holy places, thanne will they turnen toward Jerusalem.’ In A. S. the word used in similar cases is sōþlīce = soothly, verily.

1873.Ther, where. leve, grant. No two words have been more confused by editors than lene and leue. Though sometimes written much alike in MSS., they are easily distinguished by a little care. The A. S. lȳfan or lēfan, spelt lefe in the Ormulum (vol. i. p. 308), answers to the Germ. erlauben, and means grant or permit, but it can only be used in certain cases. The verb lene, A. S. lǣnan, now spelt lend, often means to give or grant in Early English, but again only in certain cases. I quote from my article on these words in Notes and Queries, 4 Ser. ii. 127—‘It really makes all the difference whether we are speaking of to grant a thing to a person, or to grant that a thing may happen. “God lene thee grace,” means “God grant thee grace,” where to grant is to impart; but “God leue we may do right” means “God grant we may do right,” where to grant is to permit. . . . . Briefly, lene requires an accusative case after it, leue is followed by a dependent clause.’ Lene occurs in Chaucer, Prol. A. 611, Milleres Tale, A. 3777, and elsewhere. Examples of leue in Chaucer are (1) in the present passage, misprinted lene by Tyrwhitt, Morris, Wright, and Bell, though five of our MSS. have leue; (2) in the Freres Tale, D. 1644, printed lene by Tyrwhitt (l. 7226), leene by Morris, leeve by Wright and Bell; (3) (4) (5) in three passages in Troilus and Criseyde (ii. 1212, iii. 56, v. 1750), where Tyrwhitt prints leve, but unluckily recants his opinion in his Glossary, whilst Morris prints lene. For other examples see Stratmann, s. v. lænan and leven.

It may be remarked that leve in Old English has several other senses; such as (1) to believe; (2) to live; (3) to leave; (4) to remain; (5) leave, sb.; (6) dear, adj. I give an example in which the first, sixth, and third of these senses occur in one and the same line:—

‘What! leuestow, leue lemman, that i the [thee] leue wold?’

Will. of Palerne, 2358.

1874.Hugh of Lincoln. The story of Hugh of Lincoln, a boy supposed to have been murdered at Lincoln by the Jews, is placed by Matthew Paris under the year 1255. Thynne, in his Animadversions upon Speght’s editions of Chaucer (p. 45 of the reprint of the E. E. T. S.), addresses Speght as follows—‘You saye, that in the 29 Henry iii. eightene Jewes were broughte from Lincolne, and hanged for crucyfyinge a childe of eight yeres olde. Whiche facte was in the 39 Hen. iii., so that you mighte verye well haue sayed, that the same childe of eighte yeres olde was the same hughe of Lincolne; of whiche name there were twoe, viz. thys younger Seinte Hughe, and Seinte Hughe bishoppe of Lincolne, which dyed in the yere 1200, long before this Edition: current; Page: [182] little seinte hughe. And to prove that this childe of eighte yeres olde and that yonge hughe of Lincolne were but one; I will sett downe two auctoryties out of Mathewe Paris and Walsinghame, wherof the fyrste wryteth, that in the yere of Christe 1255, being the 39 of Henry the 3, a childe called Hughe was sleyne by the Jewes at Lyncolne, whose lamentable historye he delyvereth at large; and further, in the yere 1256, being 40 Hen. 3, he sayeth, Dimissi sunt quieti 24 Judei á Turri London., qui ibidem infames tenebantur compediti pro crucifixione sancti Hugonis Lincolniae: All which Thomas Walsingham, in Hypodigma Neustriae, confirmeth: sayinge, Ao. 1255, Puer quidam Christianus, nomine Hugo, à Judeis captus, in opprobrium Christiani nominis crudeliter est crucifixus.’ There are several ballads in French and English, on the subject of Hugh of Lincoln, which were collected by M. F. Michel, and published at Paris in 1834, with the title—‘Hugues de Lincoln, Recueil de Ballades Anglo-Normandes et Ecossoises relatives au Meurtre de cet Enfant.’ The day of St. Hugh, bishop of Lincoln, is Aug. 27; that of St. Hugh, boy and martyr, is June 29. See also Brand’s Pop. Antiq. ed. Ellis, i. 431. And see vol. iii. p. 423.

1875.With, by. See numerous examples in Mätzner, Engl. Gram. ii. 1. 419, amongst which we may especially notice—‘Stolne is he with Iues’; Towneley Mysteries, p. 290.

Prologue to Sir Thopas.

1883.hoste is so often an evident dissyllable (see l. 1897), that there is no need to insert to after it, as in Tyrwhitt. In fact, bigan is seldom followed by to.

1885.what man artow, what sort of a man art thou?

1886.woldest finde, wouldst like to find. We learn from this passage, says Tyrwhitt, that Chaucer ‘was used to look much upon the ground; that he was of a corpulent habit; and reserved in his behaviour.’ We cannot be quite sure that the poet is serious; but these inferences are probably correct; cf. Lenvoy a Scogan, 31.

1889.war you, mind yourselves, i. e. make way.

1890.as wel as I; said ironically. Chaucer is as corpulent as the host himself. See note to l. 1886 above.

1891.were, would be. tenbrace, to embrace. In the Romaunt of the Rose, true lovers are said to be always lean; but deceivers are often fat enough:—

1900.Ye, yea. The difference in Old English between ye and yis (yes) is commonly well marked. Ye is the weaker form, and merely assents to what the last speaker says; but yis is an affirmative of great force, often followed by an oath, or else it answers a question containing a negative particle, as in the House of Fame, 864. Cf. B. 4006 below.

The Tale of Sir Thopas.

In the black-letter editions, this Tale is called ‘The ryme of Sir Thopas,’ a title copied by Tyrwhitt, but not found in the seven best MSS. This word is now almost universally misspelt rhyme, owing to confusion with the Greek rhythm; but this misspelling is never found in old MSS. or in early printed books, nor has any example yet been found earlier than the reign of Elizabeth. The old spelling rime is confirmed by the A. S. rīm, Icel. rím, Dan. rim, Swed. rim, Germ. reim, Dutch rijm, Old Fr. rime, &c. Confusion with rime, hoarfrost, is impossible, as the context always decides which is meant; but it is worth notice that it is the latter word which has the better title to an h, as the A. S. word for hoarfrost is hrīm. Tyrwhitt, in his edition of Chaucer, attempted two reforms in spelling, viz. rime for rhyme, and coud for could. Both are most rational, but probably unattainable.

Thopas. In the Supplement to Ducange we find—‘Thopasius, pro Topasius, Acta S. Wencesl. tom. 7. Sept. p. 806, col. 1.’ The Lat. topazius is our topaz. The whole poem is a burlesque (see vol. iii. p. 423), and Sir Topaz is an excellent title for such a gem of a knight. The name Topyas occurs in Richard Coer de Lion, ed. Weber, ii. 11, as that of a sister of King Richard I; but no such name is known to history.

The metre is that commonly used before and in Chaucer’s time by long-winded ballad-makers. Examples of it occur in the Romances of Sir Percevall, Sir Isumbras, Sir Eglamour, and Sir Degrevant (in the Thornton Romances, ed. Halliwell), and in several romances in the Percy Folio MS. (ed. Hales and Furnivall), such as Libius Disconius, Sir Triamour, Sir Eglamour, Guy and Colbrande, The Grene Knight, &c.; see also Amis and Amiloun, and Sir Amadas in Weber’s Metrical Romances; and Lybeaus Disconus, The King of Tars, Le Bone Florence, Emare, The Erle of Tolous, and Horn Childe in Ritson’s collection. To point out Chaucer’s sly imitations of phrases, &c. would be a long task; the reader would gain the best idea of his manner by reading any one of these old ballads. To give a few illustrations is all that can be attempted here; I refer the reader to Prof. Kölbing’s elaborate article in the Englische Studien, xi. 495, for further information; also to the dissertation by C. J. Bennewitz mentioned in vol. iii. Edition: current; Page: [184] p. 424. It is remarkable that we find in Weber a ballad called ‘The Hunting of the Hare,’ which is a pure burlesque, like Chaucer’s, but a little broader in tone and more obviously comic.

1902.Listeth, lordes, hearken, sirs. This is the usual style of beginning. For example, Sir Bevis begins—

‘Lordynges, lystenyth, grete and smale’;

and Sir Degaré begins—

‘Lystenyth, lordynges, gente and fre,

Y wylle yow telle of syr Degaré.’

Warton well remarks—‘This address to the lordings, requesting their silence and attention, is a manifest indication that these ancient pieces were originally sung to the harp, or recited before grand assemblies, upon solemn occasions’; Obs. on F. Queene, p. 248.

1904.solas, mirth. See Prol. l. 798. ‘This word is often used in describing the festivities of elder days. “She and her ladyes called for their minstrells, and solaced themselves with the disports of dauncing”; Leland, Collectanea, v. 352. So in the Romance of Ywaine and Gawin:—

“Full grete and gay was the assemble

Of lordes and ladies of that cuntre,

And als of knyghtes war and wyse,

And damisels of mykel pryse;

Ilkane with other made grete gamen

And grete solace, &c.” ’ (l. 19, ed. Ritson).

Todd’s Illust. of Chaucer, p. 378.

1905.gent, gentle, gallant. Often applied to ladies, in the sense of pretty. The first stanzas in Sir Isumbras and Sir Eglamour are much in the same strain as this stanza.

1910.Popering. ‘Poppering, or Poppeling, was the name of a parish in the Marches of Calais. Our famous antiquary Leland was once rector of it. See Tanner, Bib. Brit. in v. Leland.’—Tyrwhitt. Here Calais means the district, not the town. Poperinge has a population of about 10,500, and is situate about 26 miles S. by W. from Ostend, in the province of Belgium called West Flanders, very near the French ‘marches,’ or border. Ypres (see A. 448) is close beside it. place, the mansion or chief house in the town. Dr. Pegge, in his Kentish Glossary, (Eng. Dial. Soc.), has—‘Place, that is, the manor-house. Hearne, in his pref. to Antiq. of Glastonbury, p. xv, speaks of a manour-place.’ He refers also to Strype’s Annals, cap. xv.

1915.payndemayn. ‘The very finest and the whitest [kind of bread] that was known, was simnel-bread, which . . . . was as commonly known under the name of pain-demayn (afterwards corrupted into [painmain or] payman); a word which has given considerable trouble to Tyrwhitt and other commentators on Chaucer, but which means no Edition: current; Page: [185] more than “bread of our Lord,” from the figure of our Saviour, or the Virgin Mary, impressed upon each round flat loaf, as is still the usage in Belgium with respect to certain rich cakes much admired there’; Chambers, Book of Days, i. 119. The Liber Albus (ed. Riley, p. 305) speaks of ‘demesne bread, known as demeine,’ which Mr. Riley annotates by—‘Panis Dominicus. Simnels made of the very finest flour were thus called, from an impression upon them of the effigy of our Saviour.’ Tyrwhitt refers to the poem of the Freiris of Berwick, in the Maitland MS., in which occur the expressions breid of mane and mane breid. It occurs also in Sir Degrevant (Thornton Romances, p. 235):—

‘Paynemayn prevayly

Sche brouȝth fram the pantry,’ &c.

It is mentioned as a delicacy by Gower, Conf. Amantis, bk. vi. (ed. Pauli, iii. 22).

1917.rode, complexion. scarlet in grayn, i. e. scarlet dyed in grain, or of a fast colour. Properly, to dye in grain meant to dye with grain, i. e. with cochineal. In fact, Chaucer uses the phrase ‘with greyn’ in the epilogue to the Nonne Prestes Tale; B. 4649. See the long note in Marsh’s Lectures on the English Language, ed. Smith, pp. 54–62, and the additional note on p. 64. Cf. Shak. Tw. Nt. i. 5. 255.

1924.ciclatoun, a costly material. From the O. Fr. ciclaton, the name of a costly cloth. [It was early confused with the Latin cyclas, which Ducange explains by ‘vestis species, et panni genus.’ The word cyclas occurs in Juvenal (Sat. vi. 259), and is explained to mean a robe worn most often by women, and adorned with a border of gold or purple; see also Propertius, iv. 7. 40.] Ciclatoun, however, is of Eastern origin, as was well suggested in the following note by Col. Yule in his edition of Marco Polo, i. 249:—

‘The term suklát is applied in the Punjab trade-returns to broad-cloth. Does not this point to the real nature of the siclatoun of the Middle Ages? It is, indeed, often spoken of as used for banners, which implies that it was not a heavy woollen. But it was also a material for ladies’ robes, for quilts, leggings, housings, pavilions. Michel does not decide what it was, only that it was generally red and wrought with gold. Dozy renders it “silk stuff brocaded with gold,” but this seems conjectural. Dr. Rock says it was a thin glossy silken stuff, often with a woof of gold thread, and seems to derive it from the Arabic sakl, “polishing” (a sword), which is improbable.’ Compare the following examples, shewing its use for tents, banners, &c.:—

Edition: current; Page: [186]

‘Off silk, cendale, and syclatoun

Was the emperours pavyloun’; . . .

‘Kyng Richard took the pavylouns

Off sendels and off sykelatouns’;

Rich. Coer de Lion (Weber, ii. 90 and 201).

‘There was mony gonfanoun

Of gold, sendel, and siclatoun’;

Kyng Alisaunder (Weber, i. 85).

Richardson’s Pers. and Arab. Dict. (ed. Johnson, 1829), p. 837, gives: ‘Pers. saqlatūn, scarlet cloth (whence Arab. siqlāt, a fine painted or figured cloth)’; and the derivation is probably (as given in the New E. Dict.) from the very Pers. word which has given us the word scarlet; so that it was originally named from its colour. It was afterwards applied to various kinds of costly materials, which were sometimes embroidered with gold. See Ciclaton in Godefroy, and in the New E. Dict.; and Scarlet in my Etym. Dictionary.

The matter has been much confused by a mistaken notion of Spenser’s. Not observing that Sir Thopas is here described in his robes of peace, not in those of war (as in a later stanza), he followed Thynne’s spelling, viz. chekelatoun, and imagined this to mean ‘that kind of guilded leather with which they [the Irish] use to embroder theyr Irish jackes’; View of the State of Ireland, in Globe edition, p. 639, col. 2. And this notion he carried out still more boldly in the lines—

‘But in a jacket, quilted richly rare

Upon cheklaton, he was straungely dight’;

F. Q. vi. 7. 43.

1925.Jane, a small coin. The word is known to be a corruption of Genoa, which is spelt Jeane in Hall’s Chronicles, fol. xxiv. So too we find Janueys and Januayes for Genoese. See Bardsley’s English Surnames, s. v. Janeway. Stow, in his Survey of London, ed. 1599, p. 97, says that some foreigners lived in Minchin Lane, who had come from Genoa, and were commonly called galley-men, who landed wines, &c. from the galleys at a place called ‘galley-key’ in Thames Street. ‘They had a certaine coyne of silver amongst themselves, which were half-pence of Genoa, and were called galley half-pence. These half-pence were forbidden in the 13th year of Henry IV, and again by parliament in the 3rd of Henry V, by the name of half-pence of Genoa. . . . Notwithstanding, in my youth, I have seen them passe currant,’ &c. Chaucer uses the word again in the Clerkes Tale (E. 999), and Spenser adopted it from Chaucer; F. Q. iii. 7. 58. Mr. Wright observes that ‘the siclaton was a rich cloth or silk brought from the East, and is therefore appropriately mentioned as bought with Genoese coin.’

1927.for rivéer, towards the river. This appears to be the best reading, and we must take for in close connexion with ryde; perhaps it Edition: current; Page: [187] is a mere imitation of the French en riviere. It alludes to the common practice of seeking the river-side, because the best sport, in hawking, was with herons and waterfowl. Tyrwhitt quotes from Froissart, v. 1. c. 140—‘Le Comte de Flandres estoit tousjours en riviere—un jour advint qu’il alla voller en la riviere—et getta son fauconnier un faucon apres le heron.’ And again, in c. 210, he says that Edward III ‘alloit, chacun jour, ou en chace on en riviere,’ &c. So we read of Sir Eglamour:—

‘Sir Eglamore tooke the way

to the riuèr ffull right’;

Percy Folio MS. ii. 347.

Of Ipomydon’s education we learn that his tutor taught him to sing, to read, to serve in hall, to carve the meat, and

‘Bothe of howndis and haukis game

Aftir he taught hym, all and same,

In se, in feld, and eke in ryuere,

In wodde to chase the wild dere,

And in the feld to ryde a stede,

That all men had joy of his dede.’

Weber’s Met. Romances, ii. 283.

See also the Squire of Low Degree, in Ritson, vol. iii. p. 177.

1931.ram, the usual prize at a wrestling match. Cf. Gk. τραγῳδία.

stonde, i.e. be placed in the sight of the competitors; be seen. Cf. Prol. A. 548, and the Tale of Gamelyn, 172. Tyrwhitt says—‘Matthew Paris mentions a wrestling-match at Westminster, ad 1222, in which a ram was the prize, p. 265.’ Cf. also—

‘At wresteling, and at ston-castynge

He wan the prys without lesynge,’ &c.;

Octouian Imperator, in Weber’s Met. Rom. iii. 194.

1933.paramour, longingly; a common expression; see the Glossary.

1937.hepe, mod. E. ‘hip,’ the fruit of the dog-rose; A. S. hēope.

1938. Compare—‘So hyt be-felle upon a day’; Erle of Tolous, Ritson’s Met. Rom. iii. 134. Of course it is a common phrase in these romances.

1942.launcegay, a sort of lance. Gower has the word, Conf. Amant. bk. viii. (ed. Pauli, iii. 369). Cowel says its use was prohibited by the statute of 7 Rich. II, cap. 13. Camden mentions it in his Remaines, p. 209. Tyrwhitt quotes, from Rot. Parl. 29 Hen. VI, n. 8, the following—‘And the said Evan then and there with a launcegaye smote the said William Tresham throughe the body a foote and more, whereof he died.’ Sir Walter Raleigh (quoted by Richardson) says—‘These Edition: current; Page: [188] carried a kind of lance de gay, sharp at both ends, which they held in the midst of the staff.’ But this is certainly a corrupt form. It is no doubt a corruption of lancezagay, from the Spanish azagaya, a word of Moorish origin. Cotgrave gives—‘Zagaye, a fashion of slender, long, and long-headed pike, used by the Moorish horsemen.’ It seems originally to have been rather a short weapon, a kind of half-pike or dart. The Spanish word is well discussed in Dozy, Glossaire des mots Espagnols et Portugais dérivés de l’Arabe, 2nd ed. p. 225. The Spanish azagaya is for az-zagaya, where az is for the definite article al, and zagaya is a Berber or Algerian word, not given in the Arabic dictionaries. It is found in Old Spanish of the fourteenth century. Dozy quotes from a writer who explains it as a Moorish half-pike, and also gives the following passage from Laugier de Tassy, Hist. du royaume d’Alger, p. 58—‘Leurs armes sont l’azagaye, qui est une espéce de lance courte, qu’ils portent toujours à la main.’ The Caffre word assagai, in the sense of javelin, was simply borrowed from the Portuguese azagaia.

1949.a sory care, a grievous misfortune. Chaucer does not say what this was, but a passage in Amis and Amiloun (ed. Weber, ii. 410) makes it probable that Sir Thopas nearly killed his horse, which would have been grievous indeed; see l. 1965 below. The passage I allude to is as follows:—

‘So long he priked, withouten abod,

The stede that he on rode,

In a fer cuntray,

Was ouercomen and fel doun ded;

Tho couthe he no better red [counsel];

His song was “waileway!” ’

Readers of Scott will remember Fitz-James’s lament over his ‘gallant grey.’

1950. This can hardly be other than a burlesque upon the Squire of Low Degree (ed. Ritson, iii. 146), where a long list of trees is followed up, as here, by a list of singing-birds. Compare also the Romaunt of the Rose, l. 1367:—

‘There was eek wexing many a spyce,

As clow-gelofre and licoryce,

Gingere, and greyn de paradys,

Canelle, and setewale of prys,’ &c.

Observe the mention of notemigges in the same, l. 1361.

Line 21 of the Milleres Tale (A. 3207) runs similarly:—

‘Of licorys or any setewale.’

Maundeville speaks of the clowe-gilofre and notemuge in his 26th chapter; see Specimens of E. Eng. ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 171. Cetewale is generally explained as the herb valerian, but is certainly zedoary; see the Glossary. Clowe-gilofre, a clove; notemuge, a nutmeg. Edition: current; Page: [189] ‘Spiced ale’ is amongst the presents sent by Absolon to Alisoun in the Milleres Tale (A. 3378). Cf. the list of spices in King Alisaunder, ed. Weber, 6790–9.

1955.leye in cofre, to lay in a box.

1956. Compare Amis and Amiloun, ed. Weber, ii. 391:—

‘She herd the foules grete and smale,

The swete note of the nightingale,

Ful mirily sing on tre.’

See also Romaunt of the Rose, ll. 613–728. But Chaucer’s burlesque is far surpassed by a curious passage in the singular poem of The Land of Cockaygne (MS. Harl. 913), ll. 71–100:—

‘In þe praer [meadow] is a tre

Swiþe likful for to se.

Þe rote is gingeuir and galingale,

Þe siouns beþ al sed[e]wale;

Trie maces beþ þe flure;

Þe rind, canel of swet odur;

Þe frute, gilofre of gode smakke, &c.

Þer beþ briddes mani and fale,

Þrostil, þruisse, and niȝtingale,

Chalandre and wod[e]wale,

And oþer briddes wiþout tale [number],

Þat stinteþ neuer by har miȝt

Miri to sing[e] dai and niȝt,’ &c.

1964.as he were wood, as if he were mad, ‘like mad.’ So in Amis and Amiloun (ed. Weber), ii. 419:—

‘He priked his stede night and day

As a gentil knight, stout and gay.’

Cf. note to l. 1949.

1974.seinte, being feminine, and in the vocative case, is certainly a dissyllable here—‘O seintè Márie, ben’cite.’ Cf. note to B. 1170 above.

1977.Me dremed, I dreamt. Both dremen (to dream) and meten (also to dream) are sometimes used with a dative case and reflexively in Old English. In the Nonne Prestes Tale we have me mette (l. 74) and this man mette (l. 182); B. 4084, 4192.

1978.An elf-queen. Mr. Price says—‘There can be little doubt that at one period the popular creed made the same distinctions between the Queen of Faerie and the Elf-queen that were observed in Grecian mythology-between their undoubted parallels, Artemis and Persephone.’ Chaucer makes Proserpine the ‘queen of faerie’ in his Marchauntes Tale; but at the beginning of the Wyf of Bathes Tale, he describes the elf-queen as the queen of the fairies, and makes elf and fairy synonymous. Perhaps this elf-queen in Sire Thopas (called the queen of fairye in l. 2004) may have given Spenser the hint for his Faerie Edition: current; Page: [190] Queene. But the subject is a vast one. See Price’s Preface, in Warton’s Hist. Eng. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, pp. 30–36; Halliwell’s Illustrations of Fairy Mythology; Keightley’s Fairy Mythology; Warton’s Observations on the Faerie Queene, sect. ii; Sir W. Scott’s ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, &c.

1979.under my gore, within my robe or garment. In l. 2107 (on which see the note) we have under wede signifying merely ‘in his dress.’ We have a somewhat similar phrase here, in which, however, gore (lit. gusset) is put for the whole robe or garment. That it was a mere phrase, appears from other passages. Thus we find under gore, under the dress, Owl and Nightingale, l. 515; Reliquiae Antiquae, vol. i. p. 244, vol. ii. p. 210; with three more examples in the Gloss. to Böddeker’s Altenglische Dichtungen des MS. Harl. 2253. In one of these a lover addresses his lady as ‘geynest under gore,’ i. e. fairest within a dress. For the exact sense of gore, see note to A. 3237.

1983.In toune, in the town, in the district. But it must not be supposed that much sense is intended by this inserted line. It is a mere tag, in imitation of some of the romances. Either Chaucer has neglected to conform to the new kind of stanza which he now introduces (which is most likely), or else three lines have been lost before this one. The next three stanzas are longer, viz. of ten lines each, of which only the seventh is very short. For good examples of these short lines, see Sir Gawayne and the Greene Knyȝt, ed. Morris; and for a more exact account of the metres here employed, see vol. iii. p. 425.

1993.So wilde. Instead of this short line, Tyrwhitt has:—

‘Wherin he soughte North and South,

And oft he spied with his mouth

In many a forest wilde.’

But none of our seven MSS. agrees with this version, nor are these lines found in the black-letter editions. The notion of spying with one’s mouth seems a little too far-fetched.

1995. This line is supplied from MS. Reg. 17 D. 15, where Tyrwhitt found it; but something is so obviously required here, that we must insert it to make some sense. It suits the tone of the context to say that ‘neither wife nor child durst oppose him.’ We may, however, bear in mind that the meeting of a knight-errant with one of these often preceded some great adventure. ‘And in the midst of an highway he [Sir Lancelot] met a damsel riding on a white palfrey, and there either saluted other. Fair damsel, said Sir Lancelot, know ye in this country any adventures? Sir knight, said that damsel, here are adventures near hand, and thou durst prove them’; Sir T. Malory, Morte Arthur, bk. vi. cap. vii. The result was that Lancelot fought with Sir Turquine, and defeated him. Soon after, he was ‘required of a damsel to heal her brother’; and again, ‘at the request of a lady’ he recovered a falcon; an adventure which ended in a fight, as usual. Kölbing points out a parallel line in Sir Guy of Warwick, 45–6:—

Edition: current; Page: [191]

‘In all Englond ne was ther none

That durste in wrath ayenst hym goon’;

Caius MS., ed. Zupitza, p. 5.

1998.Olifaunt, i. e. Elephant; a proper name, as Tyrwhitt observes, for a giant. Maundeville has the form olyfauntes for elephants. By some confusion the Mœso-Goth. ulbandus and A.S. olf[Editor: illegible character]nd are made to signify a camel. Spenser has put Chaucer’s Olifaunt into his Faerie Queene, bk. iii. c. 7. st. 48, and makes him the brother of the giantess Argantè, and son of Typhoeus and Earth. The following description of a giant is from Libius Disconius (Percy Folio MS. vol. ii. p. 465):—

‘He beareth haires on his brow

Like the bristles of a sow,

His head is great and stout;

Eche arme is the lenght of an ell,

His fists beene great and fell,

Dints for to driue about.’

Sir Libius says:—

‘If God will me grace send,

Or this day come to an end

I hope him for to spill,’ &c.

Another giant, 20 feet long, and 2 ells broad, with two boar’s tusks, and also with brows like bristles of a swine, appears in Octouian Imperator, ed. Weber, iii. 196. See also the alliterative Morte Arthure, ed. Brock, p. 33.

2000.child; see note to l. 2020. Termagaunt; one of the idols whom the Saracens (in the medieval romances) are supposed to worship. See The King of Tars, ed. Ritson (Met. Rom., ii. 174–182), where the Sultan’s gods are said to be Jubiter, Jovin (both forms of Jupiter), Astrot (Astarte), Mahoun (Mahomet), Appolin (Apollo), Plotoun (Pluto), and Tirmagaunt. Lybeaus Disconus (Ritson, Met. Rom. ii. 55) fought with a giant ‘that levede yn Termagaunt.’ The Old French form is Tervagant, Ital. Tervagante or Trivigante, as in Ariosto. Wheeler, in his Noted Names of Fiction, gives the following account—‘Ugo Foscolo says: “Trivigante, whom the predecessors of Ariosto always couple with Apollino, is really Diana Trivia, the sister of the classical Apollo.” . . . . According to Panizzi, Trivagante or Tervagante is the Moon, or Diana, or Hecate, wandering under three names. Termagant was an imaginary being, supposed by the crusaders, who confounded Mahometans with pagans, to be a Mahometan deity. This imaginary personage was introduced into early English plays and moralities, and was represented as of a most violent character, so that a ranting actor might always appear to advantage in it. See Hamlet, iii. 2. 15.’ Fairfax, in his translation of Tasso (c. i. st. 84), speaks of Termagaunt and Mahound, but Tasso mentions ‘Macometto’ only. See also Spenser, F. Q. vi. 7. 47. Hence comes our termagant in the sense of a noisy boisterous woman. Shakespeare has—‘that hot Edition: current; Page: [192]termagant Scot’; 1 Hen. IV., v. 2. 114. Cf. Ritson’s note, Met. Rom. iii. 257.

2002.slee, will slay. In Anglo-Saxon, there being no distinct future tense, it is expressed by the present. Cf. go for will go in ‘we also go with thee’; John xxi. 3.

2005.simphonye, the name of a kind of tabor. In Ritson’s Ancient Songs, i. lxiv., is a quotation from Hawkins’s Hist. of Music, ii. 284, in which that author cites a passage from Batman’s translation of Bartholomaeus de Proprietatibus Rerum, to the effect that the symphonie was ‘an instrument of musyke . . . made of an holowe tree [i.e. piece of wood], closyd in lether in eyther syde; and mynstrels beteth it with styckes.’ Probably the symphangle was the same instrument. In Rob. of Brunne’s Handlyng Synne, ll. 4772–3, we find:—

2007.al-so mote I thee, as I may thrive; or, as I hope to thrive; a common expression. Cf. ‘So mote y thee’; Sir Eglamour, ed. Halliwell, l. 430; Occleve, De Regimine Principum, st. 620. Chaucer also uses ‘so thee ik,’ i. e. so thrive I, in the Reves Prologue (A. 3864) and elsewhere.

2012.Abyen it ful soure, very bitterly shalt thou pay for it. There is a confusion between A. S. súr, sour, and A. S. sár, sore, in this and similar phrases; both were used once, but now we should use sorely, not sourly. In Layamon, l. 8158, we find ‘þou salt it sore abugge,’ thou shalt sorely pay for it; on the other hand, we find in P. Plowman, B. ii. 140:—

‘It shal bisitte ȝowre soules · ful soure atte laste.’

So also in the C-text, though the A-text has sore. Note that in another passage, P. Plowman, B. xviii. 401, the phrase is—‘Thow shalt abye it bittre.’ For abyen, see the Glossary.

2015.fully pryme. See note to Nonne Prestes Tale, B. 4045. Prime commonly means the period from 6 to 9 a.m. Fully prime refers to the end of that period, or 9 a.m.; and even prime alone may be used with the same explicit meaning, as in the Nonne Pres. Ta., B. 4387.

2019.staf-slinge. Tyrwhitt observes that Lydgate describes David as armed only ‘with a staffe-slynge, voyde of plate and mayle.’ It certainly means a kind of sling in which additional power was gained by fastening the lithe part of it on to the end of a stiff stick. Staff-slyngeres are mentioned in the romance of Richard Coer de Lion, l. 4454, in Weber’s Metrical Romances, ii. 177. In Col. Yule’s edition of Marco Polo, ii. 122, is a detailed description of the artillery engines of the middle ages. They can all be reduced to two classes; those Edition: current; Page: [193] which, like the trebuchet and mangonel, are enlarged staff-slings, and those which, like the arblast and springold, are great cross-bows. Conversely, we might describe a staff-sling as a hand-trebuchet.

2020.child Thopas. Child is an appellation given to both knights and squires, in the early romances, at an age when they had long passed the period which we now call childhood. A good example is to be found in the Erle of Tolous, ed. Ritson, iii. 123:—

‘He was a feyre chylde, and a bolde,

Twenty wyntur he was oolde,

In londe was none so free.’

Compare Romance of ‘Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild,’ pr. in Ritson, iii. 282; the ballad of Childe Waters, &c. Byron, in his preface to Childe Harold, says—‘It is almost superfluous to mention that the appellation “Childe,” as “Childe Waters,” “Childe Childers,” &c., is used as more consonant with the old structure of versification which I have adopted.’ He adopts, however, the late and artificial metre of Spenser.

In a long passage in Todd’s Illustrations to Chaucer, pp. 284–292, it is contended that mery signifies sweet, pleasant, agreeable, without relation to mirth. Chaucer describes the Frere as wanton and merry, Prol. A. 208; he speaks of the merry day, Kn. Ta. 641 (A. 1499); a merry city, N. P. Ta. 251 (B. 4261); of Arcite being told by Mercury to be merry, i.e. of good cheer, Kn. Ta. 528 (A. 1386); in the Manciple’s Tale (H. 138), the crow sings merrily, and makes a sweet noise; Chanticleer’s voice was merrier than the merry organ, N. P. Ta. 31 (B. 4041); the ‘erbe yve’ is said to be merry, i. e. pleasant, agreeable, id. 146 (B. 4156); the Pardoner (Prol. A. 714) sings merrily and loud. We must remember, however, that the Host, being ‘a mery man,’ began to speak of ‘mirthe’; Prol. A. 757, 759. A very early example of the use of the word occurs in the song attributed to Canute—‘Merie sungen the Muneches binnen Ely,’ &c. See the phrase ‘mery men’ in l. 2029.

2028. The phrase to come to toune seems to mean no more than simply to return. Cf. Specimens of E. Eng., ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 48—

‘Lenten ys come wiþ loue to toune’—

which merely means that spring, with its thoughts of love, has returned. See the note on that line.

2034.for paramour, for love; but the par, or else the for, is redundant. Iolite, amusement; used ironically in the Kn. Ta. 949 (A. 1807). Sir Thopas is going to fight the giant for the love and amusement of Edition: current; Page: [194] one who shone full bright; i.e. a fair lady, of course. But Sir Thopas, in dropping this mysterious hint to his merry men, refrains from saying much about it, as he had not yet seen the Fairy Queen, and had only the giant’s word for her place of abode. The use of the past tense shone is artful; it implies that he wished them to think that he had seen his lady-love; or else that her beauty was to be taken for granted. Observe, too, that it is Sir Thopas, not Chaucer, who assigns to the giant his three heads.

Tyrwhitt’s note on gestours is—‘The proper business of a gestour was to recite tales, or gestes; which was only one of the branches of the Minstrel’s profession. Minstrels and gestours are mentioned together in the following lines from William of Nassyngton’s Translation of a religious treatise by John of Waldby; MS. Reg. 17 C. viii. p. 2:—

I warne you furst at the beginninge,

That I will make no vain carpinge

Of dedes of armys ne of amours,

As dus mynstrelles and jestours,

That makys carpinge in many a place

Of Octoviane and Isembrase,

And of many other jestes,

And namely, whan they come to festes;

Ne of the life of Bevys of Hampton,

That was a knight of gret renoun,

Ne of Sir Gye of Warwyke,

All if it might sum men lyke, &c.

I cite these lines to shew the species of tales related by the ancient Gestours, and how much they differed from what we now call jests.’

The word geste here means a tale of the adventures of some hero, like those in the Chansons de geste. Cf. note to l. 2123 below. Sometimes the plural gestes signifies passages of history. The famous collection called the Gesta Romanorum contains narratives of very various kinds.

2038.royales, royal; some MSS. spell the word reales, but the meaning is the same. In the romance of Ywain and Gawain (Ritson, vol. i.) a maiden is described as reading ‘a real romance.’ Tyrwhitt thinks that the term originated with an Italian collection of romances relating to Charlemagne, which began with the words—‘Qui se comenza la hystoria el Real di Franza,’ &c.; edit. Mutinae, 1491, folio. It was reprinted in 1537, with a title beginning—‘I reali di Franza,’ &c. He refers to Quadrio, t. vi. p. 530. The word roial (in some MSS. real) Edition: current; Page: [195] occurs again in l. 2043. Kölbing remarks that the prose romance of Generides is called a royal historie, though it has nothing to do with Charlemagne.

2043. No comma is required at the end of this line; the articles mentioned in ll. 2044–6 all belong to spicery. Cf. additional note to Troilus, vol. ii. p. 506.

2047.dide, did on, put on. The arming of Lybeaus Disconus is thus described in Ritson’s Met. Rom. ii. 10:—

The Glossary to the Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, has—‘Acton, a wadded or quilted tunic worn under the hauberk.—Planché, i. 108.’ Thynne, in his Animadversions (Early Eng. Text Soc.), p. 24, says—‘Haketon is a slevelesse jackett of plate for the warre, couered withe anye other stuffe; at this day also called a jackett of plate.’

It is certain that the plates were a later addition. It is the mod. F. hoqueton, O. F. auqueton; and it is certain that the derivation is from Arab. al-qoton or al-qutun, lit. ‘the cotton’; so that it was originally made of quilted cotton. See auqueton in Godefroy, hoqueton in Devic’s Supp. to Littré, and Acton in the New E. Dict.

2051.habergeoun, coat of mail. See Prol. A. 76, and the note.

2052.For percinge, as a protection against the piercing. So in P. Plowman, B. vi. 62, Piers puts on his cuffs, ‘for colde of his nailles,’ i.e. as a protection against the cold. So too in the Rom. of the Rose, l. 4229.

2053. The hauberk is here put on as an upper coat of mail, of finer workmanship and doubtless more flexible.

‘The hauberk was al reed of rust,

His platys thykke and swythe just’;

Octouian, ed. Weber, iii. 200.

Edition: current; Page: [196]

‘He was armed wonder weel,

And al with plates off good steel,

And ther aboven, an hawberk’;

Richard Coer de Lion, ed. Weber, ii. 222.

2054.Jewes werk, Jew’s work. Tyrwhitt imagined that Jew here means a magician, but there is not the least foundation for the idea. Mr. Jephson is equally at fault in connecting Jew with jewel, since the latter word is etymologically connected with joy. The phrase still remains unexplained. I suspect it means no more than wrought with rich or expensive work, such as Jews could best find the money for. It is notorious that they were the chief capitalists, and they must often have had to find money for paying armourers. Or, indeed, it may refer to damascened work; from the position of Damascus.

2055.plate. Probably the hauberk had a breastplate on the front of it. But on the subject of armour, I must refer the reader to Godwin’s English Archaeologist’s Handbook, pp. 252–268; Planché’s History of British Costume, and Sir S. R. Meyrick’s Observations on Body-armour, in the Archaeologia, vol. xix. pp. 120–145.

2056. The cote-armour was not for defence, but a mere surcoat on which the knight’s armorial bearings were usually depicted, in order to identify him in the combat or ‘debate.’ Hence the modern coat-of-arms.

2059.reed, red. In the Romances, gold is always called red, and silver white. Hence it was not unusual to liken gold to blood, and this explains why Shakespeare speaks of armour being gilt with blood (King John, ii. 1. 316), and makes Lady Macbeth talk of gilding the groom’s faces with blood (Macbeth, ii. 2. 56). See also Coriol. v. 1. 63, 64; and the expression ‘blood bitokeneth gold’; Cant. Tales, D. 581.

2062. Sir Thopas is made to swear by ale and bread, in ridiculous imitation of the vows made by the swan, the heron, the pheasant, or the peacock, on solemn occasions.

2065.Iambeux, armour worn in front of the shins, above the mailarmour that covered the legs; see Fairholt. He tells us that, in Roach Smith’s Catalogue of London Antiquities, p. 132, is figured a pair of cuirbouilly jambeux, which are fastened by thongs. Spenser borrows the word, but spells it giambeux, F. Q. ii. 6. 29.

quirboilly, i. e. cuir bouilli, leather soaked in hot water to soften it that it might take any required shape, after which it was dried and became exceedingly stiff and hard. In Matthew Paris (anno 1243) it is Edition: current; Page: [197] said of the Tartars—‘De coriis bullitis sibi arma leuia quidem, sed tamen impenetrabilia coaptarunt.’ In Marco Polo, ed Yule, ii. 49, it is said of the men of Carajan, that they wear armour of boiled leather (French text, armes cuiracés de cuir bouilli). Froissart (v. iv. cap. 19) says the Saracens covered their targes with ‘cuir bouilli de Cappadoce, ou nul fer ne peut prendre n’attacher, si le cuir n’est trop échaufé.’ When Bruce reviewed his troops on the morning of the battle of Bannockburn, he wore, according to Barbour, ‘ane hat of qwyrbolle’ on his ‘basnet,’ and ‘ane hye croune’ above that. Some remarks on cuir bouilli will be found in Cutts, Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages, p. 344.

2068.rewel-boon, probably whale-ivory, or ivory made of whales’ teeth. In the Turnament of Tottenham, as printed in Percy’s reliques, we read that Tyb had ‘a garland on her hed ful of rounde bonys,’ where another copy has (says Halliwell, s. v. ruel) the reading—‘fulle of ruelle-bones.’ Halliwell adds—‘In the romaunce of Rembrun, p. 458, the coping of a wall is mentioned as made ‘of fin ruwal, that schon swithe brighte.’ And in MS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ff. v. 48, fol. 119, is the passage—

‘Hir sadille was of reuylle-bone,

Semely was þat sight to se,

Stifly sette with precious stone,

Compaste about with crapote [toad-stone].’

In Sir Degrevant, 1429, a roof is said to be—

‘buskyd above

With besauntus ful bryghth,

All of ruel-bon,’ &c.

Quite near the beginning of the Vie de Seint Auban, ed. Atkinson, we have—

‘mes ne ert d’or adubbec, ne d’autre metal,

de peres preciuses, de ivoire ne roal’;

i.e. but it was not adorned with gold nor other metal, nor with precious stones, nor ivory, nor rewel. Du Cange gives a Low Lat. form rohanlum, and an O. Fr. rochal, but tells us that the MS. readings are rohallum and rohal. The passage occurs in the Laws of Normandy about wreckage, and should run—‘dux sibi retinet . . . ebur, rohallum, lapides pretiosas’; or, in the French version, ‘I’ivoire, et le rohal, et les pierres precieuses.’ Ducange explains the word by ‘rock-crystal,’ but this is a pure guess, suggested by F. roche, a rock. It is clear that, when the word is spelt rochal, the ch denotes the same sound as the Ger. ch, a guttural resembling h, and not the F. ch at all. Collecting all the spellings, we find them to be, in French, rohal, rochal, roal; and, in English, ruwal, rewel, ruel, (reuylle, ruelle). The h and w might arise from a Teutonic hw, so that the latter part of the word was originally -hwal, i.e. whale; hence, perhaps, Godefroy explains F. rochal as ‘ivoire de morse,’ ivory of the walrus (A. S. hors-hwæl). The Edition: current; Page: [198] true origin seems rather to be some Norse form akin to Norweg. röyrkval (E. rorqual). Some whales, as the cachalot, have teeth that afford a kind of ivory; and this is what seems to be alluded to. The expression ‘white as whale-bone,’ i.e. white as whale-ivory, was once common; see Weber’s Met. Romances, iii. 350; and whales-bone in Nares. Most of this ivory was derived, however, from the tusk of the walrus or the narwhal. Sir Thopas’s saddle was ornamented with ivory.

2071.cipress, cypress-wood. In the Assembly of Foules, l. 179, we have—

‘The sailing firr, the cipres, deth to pleyne’—

i. e. the cypress suitable for lamenting a death. Vergil calls the cypress ‘atra,’ Æn. iii. 64, and ‘feralis,’ vi. 216; and as it is so frequently a symbol of mourning, it may be said to bode war.

2078. In Sir Degrevant (ed. Halliwell, p. 191) we have just this expression—

‘Here endyth the furst fit.

Howe say ye? will ye any more of hit?’

2085.love-drury, courtship. All the six MSS. have this reading. According to Wright, the Harl. MS. has ‘Of ladys loue and drewery,’ which Tyrwhitt adopts; but it turns out that Wright’s reading is copied from Tyrwhitt; the MS. really has—‘And of ladys loue drewery,’ like the rest.

2088. The romance or lay of Horn appears in two forms in English. In King Horn, ed. Lumby, Early Eng. Text Soc., 1866, printed also in Mätzner’s Altenglische Sprachproben, i. 207, the form of the poem is in short rimed couplets. But Chaucer no doubt refers to the other form with the title Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild, in a metre similar to Sir Thopas, printed in Ritson’s Metrical Romances, iii. 282. The Norman-French text was printed by F. Michel for the Bannatyne Club, with the English versions, in a volume entitled—Horn et Riemenhild; Recueil de ce qui reste des poëmes relatifs à leurs aventures, &c. Paris, 1845. See Mr. Lumby’s preface and the remarks in Mätzner.

It is not quite clear why Chaucer should mention the romance of Sir Ypotis here, as it has little in common with the rest. There are four MS. copies of it in the British Museum, and three at Oxford. ‘It professes to be a tale of holy writ, and the work of St. John the Evangelist. The scene is Rome. A child, named Ypotis, appears before the Emperor Adrian, saying that he is come to teach men God’s law; whereupon the Emperor proceeds to interrogate him as to what is God’s Law, and then of many other matters, not in any captious spirit, but with the utmost reverence and faith. . . . There is a little tract in prose on the same legend from the press of Wynkyn de Worde’; J. W. Hales, in Hazlitt’s edition of Warton’s Hist. of Eng. Poetry, ii. 183. It was printed in 1881, from the Vernon MS. at Oxford, in Horstmann’s Altenglische Legenden, Neue Folge, pp. 341–8. It is hard to believe that, by Ypotys, Chaucer meant (as some say) Ypomadoun.

Edition: current; Page: [199]

The romance of Sir Bevis of Hampton (i.e. Southampton) was printed from the Auchinleck MS. for the Maitland Club in 1838, 4to. Another copy is in MS. Ff. 2. 38, in the Cambridge University Library. It has lately been edited, from six MS. copies and an old printed text, by Prof. Kölbing, for the Early Eng. Text Society. There is an allusion in it to the Romans, meaning the French original. It appears in prose also, in various forms. See Warton’s Hist. of Eng. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 142, where there is also an account of Sir Guy, in several forms; but a still fuller account of Sir Guy is given in the Percy Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, ii. 509. This Folio MS. itself contains three poems on the latter subject, viz. Guy and Amarant, Guy and Colbrande, and Guy and Phillis. ‘Sir Guy of Warwick’ has been edited for the Early Eng. Text Society by Prof. Zupitza.

By Libeux is meant Lybeaus Disconus, printed by Ritson in his Metrical Romances, vol. ii. from the Cotton MS. Caligula A. 2. A later copy, with the title Libius Disconius, is in the Percy Folio MS. ii. 404, where a good account of the romance may be found. The best edition is that by Dr. Max Kulaza, entitled Libeaus Desconus; Leipzig, 1890. The French original was discovered in 1855, in a MS. belonging to the Duc d’Aumale. Its title is Li Biaus Desconneus, which signifies The Fair Unknown.

Pleyndamour evidently means plein d’amour, full of love, and we may suspect that the original romance was in French; but there is now no trace of any romance of that name, though a Sir Playne de Amours is mentioned in Sir T. Malory’s Morte Darthur, bk. ix. c. 7. Spenser probably borrowed hence his Sir Blandamour, F. Q. iv. 1. 32.

2092. After examining carefully the rimes in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Mr. Bradshaw finds that this is the sole instance in which a word which ought etymologically to end in -ye is rimed with a word ending in -y without a following final e. A reason for the exception is easily found; for Chaucer has here adopted the swing of the ballad metre, and hence ventures to deprive chiualryë of its final e, and to call it chivalry’ so that it may rime with Gy, after the manner of the ballad-writers; cf. Squyre of Lowe Degre, 79, 80. So again chivalryë, druryë become chivalry, drury; ll. 2084, 2085. We even find plas for plac-e, 1971; and gras for grac-e, 2021.

2094.glood, glided. So in all the MSS. except E., which has the poor reading rood, rode. For the expression in l. 2095, compare—

‘But whenne he was horsede on a stede,

He sprange als any sparke one [read of] glede’;

Sir Isumbras, ed. Halliwell, p. 107.

‘Lybeaus was redy boun,

And lepte out of the arsoun [bow of the saddle]

As sperk thogh out of glede’;

Lybeaus Disconus, in Ritson, ii. 27.

Edition: current; Page: [200]

‘Then sir Lybius with ffierce hart,

Out of his saddle swythe he start

As sparcle doth out of fyer’;

Percy Folio MS. ii. 440.

2106. The first few lines of the romance of Sir Perceval of Galles (ed. Halliwell, p. 1) will at once explain Chaucer’s allusion. It begins—

‘Lef, lythes to me

Two wordes or thre

Of one that was faire and fre

And felle in his fighte;

His right name was Percyvelle,

He was fostered in the felle,

He dranke water of the welle,

And ȝitt was he wyghte!’

Both Sir Thopas and Sir Perceval were water-drinkers, but it did not impair their vigour.

In the same romance, p. 84, we find—

‘Of mete ne drynke he ne roghte,

So fulle he was of care!

Tille the nynte daye byfelle

That he come to a welle,

Ther he was wonte for to duelle

And drynk take hym thare.’

These quotations set aside Mr. Jephson’s interpretation, and solve Tyrwhitt’s difficulty. Tyrwhitt says that ‘The Romance of Perceval le Galois, or de Galis, was composed in octosyllable French verse by Chrestien de Troyes, one of the oldest and best French romancers, before the year 1191; Fauchet, l. ii. c. x. It consisted of above 60,000 verses (Bibl. des Rom. t. ii. p. 250) so that it would be some trouble to find the fact which is, probably, here alluded to. The romance, under the same title, in French prose, printed at Paris, 1530, fol., can be an abridgement, I suppose, of the original poem.’

2107.worthy under wede, well-looking in his armour. The phrase is very common. Tyrwhitt says it occurs repeatedly in the romance of Emare, and refers to folios 70, 71 b, 73 a, and 74 b of the MS.; but the reader may now find the romance in print; see Ritson’s Metrical Romances, ii. pp. 214, 229, 235, 245. The phrase is used of ladies also, and must then mean of handsome appearance when well-dressed. See Amis and Amiloun, ed. Weber, ii. pp. 370, 375. Cf. l. 1979.

2108. The story is here broken off by the host’s interruption. MSS. Pt. and Hl. omit this line, and MSS. Cp. and Ln. omit ll. 2105–7 as well.

Edition: current; Page: [201]

Prologue to Melibeus.

2113.drasty, filthy. Tyrwhitt and Bell print drafty, explained by full of draff or refuse. But there is no such word; the adjective (were there one) would take the form draffy. See drestys, i.e. dregs, lees of wine, in the Prompt. Parv., and Way’s note, which gives the spelling drastus (a plural form) as occurring in MS. Harl. 1002. The Lat. feces is glossed by drastys in Wright’s Vocab., ed. Wülcker, p. 625, l. 16. And the Lat. feculentus is glossed by the A. S. dræstig in the same, col. 238, l. 20.

2123.in geste, in the form of a regular story of adventure of some well-known hero; cf. House of Fame, 1434, 1515. The gestes generally pretended to have some sort of historical foundation; from Low Lat. gesta, doings. Sir Thopas was in this form, but the Host would not admit it, and wanted to hear about some one who was more renowned. ‘Tell us,’ he says, ‘a tale like those in the chansons de geste, or at least something in prose that is either pleasant or profitable.’

2131. ‘Although it is sometimes told in different ways by different people.’

2137. ‘And all agree in their general meaning.’ sentence, sense; see ll. 2142, 2151.

2148. Read it—Tenforcë with, &c.

The Tale of Melibeus.

For the sources of the Tale of Melibeus, see vol. iii. p. 426. It may suffice to say here that Chaucer’s Tale is translated from the French version entitled Le Livre de Mellibee et Prudence, ascribed by M. Paul Meyer to Jean de Meung. Of this text there are two MS. copies in the British Museum, viz. MS. Reg. 19 C. vii. and MS. Reg. 19 C. xi, both of the fifteenth century; the former is said by Mr. T. Wright to be the more correct. It is also printed, as forming part of Le Menagier de Paris, the author of which embodied it in his book, written about 1393; the title of the printed book being—‘Le Menagier de Paris; publié pour la première fois par la Société des Bibliophiles François; a Paris m.d. ccc. xlvi’; (tome i. p. 186); ed. J. Pichon. In the following notes, this is alluded to as the French text.

This French version was, in its turn, translated from the Liber Consolationis et Consilii of Albertano of Brescia, excellently edited for the Chaucer Society in 1873 by Thor Sundby, with the title ‘Albertani Brixiensis Liber Consolationis et Consilii.’ This is alluded to, in the following notes, as the Latin text. Thor Sundby’s edition is most helpful, as the editor has taken great pains to trace the sources of the Edition: current; Page: [202] very numerous quotations with which the Tale abounds; and I am thus enabled to give the references in most cases. I warn the reader that Albertano’s quotations are frequently inexact.

Besides this, the Tale of Melibeus has been admirably edited, as a specimen of English prose, in Mätzner’s Altenglische Sprachproben, ii. 375, with numerous notes, of which I here make considerable use. Owing to the great care taken by Sundby and Mätzner, the task of explaining the difficulties in this Tale has been made easy. The more important notes from Mätzner are marked ‘Mr.’

The first line or clause (numbered 2157) ends with the word ‘Sophie,’ as shewn by the slanting stroke. The whole Tale is thus divided into clauses, for the purpose of ready reference, precisely as in the Six-text edition; I refer to these clauses as if they were lines. The ‘paragraphs’ are the same as in Tyrwhitt’s edition.

2157.Melibeus. The meaning of the name is given below (note to l. 2600).

Prudence. ‘It is from a passage of Cassiodorus, quoted by Albertano in cap. vi., that he [Albertano] has taken the name of his heroine, if we may call her so, and the general idea of her character:—“Superauit cuncta infatigabilis et expedita prudentia”; Cass. Variarum lib. ii. epist. 15.’—Sundby.

2159.Inwith, within; a common form in Chaucer; see note to B. 1794. Y-shette, pl. of y-shet, shut; as in B. 560.

2160.Thre; Lat. text, tres; Fr. text, trois. Tyrwhitt has foure, as in MSS. Cp. Ln.; yet in l. 2562, he prints ‘thin enemies ben three,’ and in l. 2615, he again prints ‘thy three enemies.’ Again, in l. 2612, it is explained that these three enemies signify, allegorically, the flesh, the world, and the devil.

2185.Iesus Syrak, Jesus the son of Sirach. ‘Ecclesiasticus is the title given in the Latin version to the book which is called in the Septuagint The Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach’; Smith, Dict. of the Bible. Compare the title ‘A prayer of Jesus the son of Sirach’ to Ecclus. ch. li. But the present quotation is really from Prov. xvii. 22. It is the next quotation, in l. 2186, that is from Ecclus. xxx. 25 (Vulgate), i. e. xxx. 23 in the English version. The mistake is due to misreading the original Lat. text, which quotes the passages in the reverse order, as being from ‘Jesus Sirac’ and ‘alibi.’

2187. From Prov. xxv. 20; but the clause is omitted in the modern Eng. version, though Wycliffe has it. The Vulgate has:—‘Sicut tinea uestimento, et uermis ligno: ita tristitia uiri nocet cordi.’ The words in the shepes flees (in the sheep’s fleece) are added by Chaucer, apparently by way of explanation. But the fact is that, according to Mätzner, the Fr. version here has ‘la tigne, ou lartuison, nuit a la robe,’ where artuison is the Mod. F. artison, explained by Cotgrave as ‘a kind of moth’; and I strongly suspect that ‘in the shepes flees’ is due to this ‘ou lartuison,’ which Chaucer may have misread as en la toison. It looks very like it. I point other similar mistakes further on.

Anoyeth, harms; F. nuit, L. nocet. The use of to here is well illustrated by Mätzner, who compares Wycliffe’s version of this very passage; ‘As a moghe to the cloth, and a werm to the tree, so sorewe of a man noyeth to the herte’; whereas Purvey’s later version thrice omits the to. In the Persones Tale, Group I. 847, anoyeth occurs both with to and without it.

2188.Us oghte, it would become us; oghte is in the subjunctive mood. Cf. hem oughte, it became them, in l. 2458; thee oughte, it became thee, in l. 2603.—Mr. The pres. indic. form is us oweth.

2193. Quotations from Solomon and from Ecclesiasticus are frequently confused, both throughout this Tale, and elsewhere. The reference is to Ecclus. xxxii. 24, in the Vulgate (cf. A. V. xxxii. 19); here Wycliffe has:—‘Sone, withoute counseil no-thing do thou; and after thi deede thou shalt not othynke’ (i. e. of-thinke, repent).

2207. ‘Heal, put a stop to, war by taking vengeance; a literal and very happy translation from the French—aussi doit on guerir guerre par vengence.’—Bell. Tyrwhitt omits the words by vengeaunce, and Lounsbury (Studies in Chaucer, i. 320) defends him, arguing that ‘the physicians are represented as agreeing with the surgeons’; whereas Chaucer expressly says that ‘they seyden a fewe wordes more.’ The words ‘by vengeaunce’ are in all the seven MSS. and in the French original. Admittedly, they make nonsense, but the nonsense is expressly laid bare and exposed afterwards, when it appears that the physicians did not really add this clause, but Melibeus dreamt that they did (2465–2480). The fact is, however, that the words par vengence were wrongly interpolated in the French text. Chaucer should have omitted them, but the evidence shews that he did not. I decline to falsify the text in order to set the author right. We should then have to set the French text right also!

2221.Men seyn; this does not necessarily mean that Chaucer is referring to a proverb. He is merely translating. The Lat. text has; ‘quare dici consueuit, Optimum iudicem existimem, qui cito intelligit et tarde iudicat.’ It also quotes two sentences (nos. 311 and 128) from Publilius Syrus: ‘Mora omnis odio est, sed facit sapientiam’; and—‘Deliberare utilia mora est tutissima.’ Mätzner points out that there are two other sentences (nos. 659 and 32) in Publilius, which come very near the expression in the text, viz. ‘Velox consilium sequitur poenitentia’; and—‘Ad poenitendum properat, qui cito iudicat.’

2223. See John, viii. 3-8. For he wroot, Hl. has ‘hem wrot,’ which is obviously wrong.

2227.Made contenaunce, made a sign, made a gesture. Among the senses of F. contenance, Cotgrave gives: ‘gesture, posture, behaviour, carriage.’

2228. Fr. text—‘qui ne scevent que querre se monte.’—Mr.

2229. ‘The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water’; Prov. xvii. 14.

2231. ‘The chylde may rue that is vnborn’; Chevy Chase, l. 9.

2235. ‘A tale out of season is as music in mourning’; Ecclus. xxii. 6.

2237. Not from ‘Solomon,’ but from ‘Jesus, son of Sirach,’ as before. The Lat. text agrees with the Vulgate version of Ecclus. xxxii. 6: ‘ubi auditus non est, ne effundas sermonem’; the E. version (verse 4) is somewhat different, viz. ‘Pour not out words where there is a musician, and shew not forth wisdom out of time.’ Chaucer gives us the same saying again in verse; see B. 3991.

2243.Piers Alfonce, Petrus Alfonsi. ‘Peter Alfonsus, or Alfonsi, was a converted Spanish Jew, who flourished in the twelfth century, and is well known for his Disciplina Clericalis, a collection of stories and moralisations in Latin prose, which was translated afterwards into French verse, under the title of the Chastoiement d’un pere a son fils. It was a book much in vogue among the preachers from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century.’—Wright. Tyrwhitt has a long note here; he says that a copy of this work is in MS. Bibl. Reg. 10 B. xii in the British Museum, and that there is also a copy of another work by the same author, entitled Dialogus contra Judaeos, in MS. Harl. 3861. He also remarks that the manner and style of the Disciplina Clericalis ‘show many marks of an Eastern original; and one of his stories Of a trick put upon a thief is entirely taken from the Calilah a Damnah, a celebrated collection of Oriental apologues.’ All the best fables of Alfonsus Edition: current; Page: [206] were afterwards incorporated (says Tyrwhitt) into the Gesta Romanorum. He was born at Huesca, in Arragon, in 1062, and converted to Christianity in 1106.

‘Tarry a little, that we may make an end the sooner, was a saying of Sir Amias Paulet. Presto e bene non si conviene; Ital.’ See 2325 below, and observe that Chaucer has the same form of words in Troil. i. 956.

2265.Rather, sooner. See Mark, xvi. 9. The weakness of this argument for the goodness of woman appears by comparison with P. Plowman, C. viii. 138: ‘A synful Marye the seyh er seynt Marie thy moder,’ i.e. Christ was seen by St. Mary the sinner earlier than by St. Mary His mother, after His resurrection.